Within the larger framework of its military diplomacy, India is currently expanding its overall military-security/defence ties with some of the key Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries. The forging of such cooperation, including technology transfer and joint-collaboration programmes, has emerged as an important objective of the country’s foreign policy. The upward trajectory of relations in this sphere is widely visible in India’s burgeoning partnerships with countries like Israel, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar. The military-security dimension of their respective bilateral cooperation is becoming prominent, and will likely emerge as one of the hallmarks, alongside their cooperation in the oil-energy and socio-economic sectors. Likewise, India is making certain strategic moves to bolster its military-to-military cooperation with an equally important country in North Africa—Egypt, which is widely known for having one of the strongest military powers in the region. This year, both countries are celebrating the 75^th year of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

The military-security dimension of their respective bilateral cooperation is becoming prominent, and will likely emerge as one of the hallmarks, alongside their cooperation in the oil-energy and socio-economic sectors.

Egypt is one of the countries with whom India continues to maintain cordial relations—except for a brief period of lull, especially from the late 1970s onwards when Cairo started moving closer to the United States (US), distancing itself from the Soviet-led bloc. This shift during the later period of the Cold War, however, did not lead to any major hiccups, which, otherwise, could have adversely impacted the ties between the two countries (which were founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement). Amidst such transitions and the prevailing geopolitical landscape, one aspect of their cooperation that remained uninterrupted was the defence-related cooperation, with both sides able to manage an equilibrium. With such a foundational basis, in the present scenario, there are discernible efforts which are being made by the respective governments to enhance defence/military-security cooperation. An impetus to the ties was given by the state visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah AI-Sisi to India in September 2016, providing a significant opportunity to strengthen engagements on multiple fronts. In light of this, the signing of the India-Egypt Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in defence, during the two-day official visit of the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Cairo on 19-20 September 2022, is an important breakthrough, which has also been considered as a “milestone.” This strategic decision made by both sides will give more impetus to the defence-related engagements.

A possible partnership?

There are a few pivotal factors that have contributed to the expansion of the overall Indo-Egyptian cooperation. In that, commonly shared threats perceptions stemming from non-state actors, including remnants and affiliates of terror outfits such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (operating in the Sinai & MENA region and the Indian subcontinent); the phenomenon of violent extremism and radicalisation; cross-border terrorism; terror financing; and money laundering, are some factors that brought the military-security establishments of the two countries closer in the recent times. Simultaneously, the Egyptian government has embarked on a process of defence-military modernisation as well as diversification of its sources for weapons imports, which coincides with India’s increasing quest for clients for exports of its indigenously built systems and weapons. For this, the Middle East, African region, the US, South and Southeast Asian regions could become India’s lucrative markets. Beyond mere buyer-seller arrangements, New Delhi is also exploring opportunities to develop defence industrial cooperation with its international partners, within which engagements with Egyptian defence/security firms look promising, particularly with the aforementioned MoU.

The Egyptian government has embarked on a process of defence-military modernisation as well as diversification of its sources for weapons imports, which coincides with India’s increasing quest for clients for exports of its indigenously built systems and weapons.

For India and Egypt, it should not be a herculean task to boost the military-security/defence cooperation. This is because there are already key bilateral institutional mechanisms which are in place, including the Joint Defence Committee (JDC) (overseeing the overall defence cooperation), security dialogues at the level of National Security Advisors (NSA) and deputy NSAs, and the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Terrorism. For instance, during the aforementioned 2016 visit of the Egyptian President to India, both sides agreed to collectively combat the scourge of terrorism and the spread of twin security challenges—extremism and radicalisation, followed by discussions to augment cyber security cooperation. Now, through the defence MoU, India and Egypt are entering into the newer realms of “co-production, maintenance of military platforms and equipment” as well as increasing the frequency of joint training and exercises of the armed forces, and also strengthening the counter-terrorism/insurgency cooperation. It is noteworthy that the Indian Air Force (IAF) and its counterpart—the Egyptian Air Force (EAF)—conducted a first-of-its-kind-interaction (between Fighter Weapon Schools)—Tactical Leadership Programme—in Egypt in July 2022, during which they exchanged “ideas in the domain of Large Force Engagements involving complex, multi-aircraft missions.” Prior to this, the two air forces engaged in a two-day exercise named “Desert Warrior” in late October 2021. Such tactical exercises provide an opportunity to share their experiences pertaining to air combat and also the best practices adopted by the respective air forces. Further, amidst the rising complexity in and around the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, existing naval cooperation between the Indian and Egyptian navies remains satisfactory, with more prospects for expansion. Egypt has a strategic location, i.e., at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and this provides an advantage to countries like India while forging robust cooperation with the former’s navy. This holds for both maritime trade and security-related cooperation. The regular conduct of maritime partnership exercises during the last few years has demonstrated a strong interest to enhance interoperability between the two navies, which could then widen the scope for joint operations against any form of common maritime threats, including sea piracy, human trafficking, weapons smuggling, and to work jointly on matters related to humanitarian assistance.

Egypt has a strategic location, i.e., at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and this provides an advantage to countries like India while forging robust cooperation with the former’s navy.

To ensure and promote maritime security in the wider region, India and Egypt should explore the possibility of involving like-minded countries from the region and beyond, having mutual interests. Joint naval exercises/drills could be conducted with Omani, Emirati, and Saudi navies as these countries have similar bilateral activities with the Indian and Egyptian navies. Moreover, as the Indo-Egyptian military ties progress, the French Navy could also be welcomed to establish coordination and cooperation, which would be crucial for safeguarding maritime security not only in the MENA region but also in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. Lately, Paris and Cairo are ramping up their security-defence, mainly focusing on mega arms trade and counter-terrorism operations (as it is the case between India and France). France wants to increase its naval presence in the mentioned waters to ensure a smooth maritime shipping lines and combat against various sea-borne threats. Furthermore, with its promotion for a “Free and open Indo-Pacific”, France would like to possibly build a partnership with India and Egypt. All the three countries remain cognisant of the importance of Suez Canal for the construct of the Indo-Pacific strategy. The strong convergences of these strategic interests should eventually result in such a breakthrough, sooner or later. The aforementioned visit of the Indian minister is, indeed, timely and significant as it has come about at a juncture when the government is currently searching for partners, for the exports of its defence items and to forge defence industrial cooperation. Over the last few years, India has become one of the world’s largest arms importers, a status which it is attempting to reverse in the coming years, mainly by introducing initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’ and Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-Reliant Mission). The focus, therefore, is clearly on augmenting domestic production. With a share of 0.2 percent in the global arms exports during 2016-20, India was the world’s 24^th largest exporter of defence items, and the export volume is expected to grow.

As the Indo-Egyptian military ties progress, the French Navy could also be welcomed to establish coordination and cooperation, which would be crucial for safeguarding maritime security not only in the MENA region but also in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.

The steady growth of defence ties with Egypt carries the potential to increase the presence of Indian defence firms (state-owned and private). As technological cooperation takes time to come to fruition, there is a fair likelihood of conducting more defence trade, for now, between the two countries. This could be lucrative for India’s defence industries which are rapidly designing and manufacturing several items, including radars, patrol vessels, light-combat aircraft (LCA), light-combat helicopters (LCHs), missile systems, electronic warfare systems (EWS), tanks, and military vehicles. As it is, Egypt has expressed its interest to purchase India’s indigenously-developed Akash missile systems as well as BrahMos cruise missiles (jointly developed with Russia). Cairo has also indicated a similar interest to procure Tejas, the single-engine LCA, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (LTD). In the long run, exports of these major weapons systems could elevate India’s status as an arms supplier as well as help boost its arms-exports revenues, which is important not only for its economic growth but also for fuelling defence research & development (R&D) programmes. Being the world’s third largest arms importer during 2017-2021, and with an ongoing diversification of its arms supplier sources, Egypt will continue to look for available importers, and India—a friendly partner—could meet some of its defence requirements. Evidently, India and Egypt are creating a synergy for establishing comprehensive military-security partnerships. The growing convergence of their economic and strategic interests will contribute to the expansion of the ties in this direction. India’s increasing technological expertise can also be a key source in Egypt’s drive to develop a self-reliant defence industry. Meanwhile, by the virtue of having cordial relations with some of the Middle Eastern countries, India and Egypt should mull over building trilateral or multilateral partnerships on the security front. Lastly, the considerable political goodwill exhibited by both sides should result in significant headways in the field of military, security and defence in the future.

• International Affairs
• Africa
• India
• defence
• diplomacy
• Egypt
• Indo-Egyptian
• military
• military–security

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