India must focus on military diplomacy if it aspires to become a global power

The role of the Armed Forces to support India’s foreign policy has been very clear, but how can Indian diplomacy better integrate the military into policy making. The global standing and politics is still more about military power, and less about rules-based international order.   Like with the big village bully, the other nations have to adjust and accommodate the more powerful. The military power does flow from economic and technological capabilities. Effectively the military power strengthens the diplomatic positions. The US has been able to call the shots globally because of its military presence and power. How does India manage its defence diplomacy and connect the dots needs to be understood. The military-to-military contacts are at various levels, including senior level visit exchanges, arms sales and purchases, military equipment training, joint military exercises, training staff courses, and exchange of strategic and tactical appreciation literature.  Defence wings in the embassies play a huge role in facilitating all these activities.   Also, military exercises are used for politico-diplomatic messaging and muscle-flexing. The United States had mastered this military diplomacy. Now China is trying to replicate some of it. India is engaged in large-scale exercises with all major militaries including, USA, Russia, UK, France, Australia, Japan, and many more.     In many countries, such as Pakistan, the armed forces are literally running the country. In such countries the military is directly involved in diplomacy. The US government has often preferred dictators, military Generals, or subservient Monarchs to deal with. The Pakistan Army has also been offering security to some rulers in West Asia. India has a very powerful military. It is a nuclear weapons power with a credible missile program. A key element of being a ‘net security provider’ is the ability to launch Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the region.  Indian armed forces played a globally acclaimed role during 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2020 floods in Madagascar, Covid-19 pandemic medical-relief operations, and the recent earthquake in Turkey. [caption id=“attachment_12391172” align=“alignnone” width=“437”] Indian military supporting Nepal earthquake. Image: IAF[/caption] Indian armed forces not only defend the borders but have made foreign interventions in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives on the request of local people and governments.  Clearly the military has the means to advance foreign policy interests. Unfortunately, the Indian military has not been involved sufficiently in foreign policy or senior officers positioned at such posts that may influence policy. If we have great power ambitions, then this needs to change.  A more visible military participation will be desired. This surely calls for better civil-military integration, and closer coordination between Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). As India inches towards becoming a significant arms exporter, then this will also become a part of military diplomacy. India has already been selling helicopters, small-arms and guns, and now on offer are the LCA aircraft, BrahMos missiles, and much more. With a target to increase arms exports to $5 billion by 2025, India has intensified its efforts to sell weapons in Southeast Asia and Africa. The Philippines became the first country in the world to procure the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile batteries. Indonesia is likely to be the next. Bahrain has evinced interest in buying the new upgraded and more lethal Arjun Mark 2 tanks from India. This all will support defence diplomacy. [caption id=“attachment_12391192” align=“alignnone” width=“441”] BrahMos for Philippines. Image Source: Reuters[/caption] Also India’s arms assistance to some of the neighbours like Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Maldives to build their military capability by donating and transferring equipment, including aircraft, helicopter, radars, naval vessels, is part of the military diplomacy and increasing dependency.   Training foreign military personnel at Indian military academies and training institutions helps build military-to-military links, and often long-term beneficial friendships. This alumni contact currently has security restrictions, but actually this needs to be encouraged.   India must also increase its military training teams abroad, as this instructor-pupil relationship greatly increases defence diplomacy. Currently the number of visits abroad of military staff level delegations is low. Even visits by service chiefs are far and few. This must go up. The 2+2 Ministerial level meetings involving defence and foreign affairs ministers are taking place with an increasing number of countries, and at more frequent intervals. This is also helping improve inter-ministerial coordination within India. There are military-to-military talks, exchange of visits, and many retired military officers are part of Think tanks or are involved in back-channel Track-2 discussions. Also, most military training institutions have exchange visits. Indian armed forces are now engaged in military exercises with many more countries for better understanding and interoperability. Joint exercises promote diplomacy, in addition to building operational skills, interoperability, ability and readiness for power projection, and political signalling. Milan and Malabar exercises test out protection of India’s own territories and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but also ability to be able to deliver military aid quickly to neighbours and allies. India has intensified collaboration with many Southeast Asian states. [caption id=“attachment_12391202” align=“alignnone” width=“434”] Malabar exercise. Image Source: Indian Navy[/caption] Defence diplomacy is a critical part of India’s relations in West Asia. India has conducted back-to-back joint military exercises with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and Oman among others. India has increasingly leveraged its defence forces to shape regional diplomacy. With military foundational logistics agreements with many countries, transit of aircraft and ships has become smoother. India has been offering IAF airfields and air space for foreign air forces like Singapore to come and train. More countries are now offering Indian armed forces their military facilities (ports and airfields) for regular use or transit. Muscat and Duqm port in Oman, an airbase in Tajikistan, radar facility in Madagascar, facilities on Agaléga Island, Madagascar, and also in Seychelles, are among some. Indian Army’s close links with Nepalese army, major joint events to mark 50-years of Bangladesh liberation, all supported military diplomacy. India is one of the major contributors of troops and military hardware for UN peacekeeping operations, especially in Africa. Our personnel have won the hearts of local populations through their neutrality and honest support. [caption id=“attachment_12391212” align=“alignnone” width=“438”] Indian peacekeepers in Congo. Image Source: Wikipedia[/caption] Military officers play a major role in defence wings of Indian embassies abroad. In fact, the defence diplomacy begins best in our foreign embassies. Does everyone share the information freely with others or hoard information to be seen as more informed or intelligent. Most Ambassadors do allot many high priority tasks to them for engaging with the home country’s military brass, diplomatic and military assessments, coordinating visits from India and other major local events. They have a major role during long military defence production or upgrade projects related to aircraft and ships.  India imports a large quantity of defence hardware. Military headquarters have significant purchase powers now. Most of these purchases are coordinated by the defence attaches. This involves highly technical meetings and negotiations on behalf of the service headquarters. They are involved in contract servicing and follow up for major defence acquisitions, military training of our personnel, and service courses, among many others. The defence attaches attend foreign military seminars, have informal meetings, and get briefed on new equipment, and host military’s doctrines. The defence wings also support military intelligence gathering. Armed forces headquarters in New Delhi regularly interact with defence wings in the embassies for many activities and emergent purchases. India is among the most threatened nations, and has two nuclear powered neighbours, with both of which India has had full-fledged wars and many skirmishes. The security challenges that India faces requires much greater civil-military coordination. The government has given greater freedom of response on borders to the armed forces. PM Modi’s SAGAR Initiative (security and growth for all in the region) is meant to bolster India’s commitment and presence in the strategic Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and envisages the active presence of Indian armed forces as a potential security provider. Even surgical strikes have been used for diplomatic messaging. Defence diplomacy is a serious business nowadays. It is not good enough to have some military officers in the National Security Council Secretariat. More military officers are required at MEA desks. Similarly some more MEA officers should man MoD posts.   The Indian military’s role in India’s foreign policy has to expand. It is so much easier for foreign militaries to communicate and coordinate with personnel in uniform, for all the activities. The defence wings in our embassies abroad have their hands full all the time. India has aspirations for a place in the global high-table, and is wooed by many countries and has a leadership position of the Global South. Major Powers have large Embassies. Another area of showcasing India’s defence capabilities are Defence Expo, Aero India air show, and Fire Power Demonstrations, where foreign delegations and defence attaches are invited. Indian Navy ships transits abroad are treated as diplomatic port calls. Maybe it is time to treat a C-17 landing abroad in the same manner. The government is working on strengthening the role of defence attaches. They have been allocated significant funds to promote Indian defence equipment in their respective markets. India’s defence attaches must be fully exposed to the country’s defence production capabilities before moving on their assignments abroad. Many foreign defence companies could be in financial mess, and the defence attaché could actually help identify cases fit for acquisitions.       The number of countries that we have defence attaches must be reviewed and should go up accordingly. There are many countries where there is a single officer managing the entire defence wing. India needs to reassess and in many countries there would be a need to expand with additional attachés from more services.     Defence diplomacy is not exclusive, and both the foreign and defence policies should work in tandem. We need to train our defence spokespersons to handle more media briefings and at greater frequency, especially after major military exercises in India or abroad. Media briefings should be done jointly by MEA and MoD spokespersons, for example, after an HADR mission. That is why South Block used to have the MEA and MoD. Time has come for India to have a military diplomacy division in MEA. Military diplomacy is a key component of foreign policy, and India must work to strengthen it further if it has to become a global power. The writer is Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies. Views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.