Raksha Mantri & his French counterpart to co-chair 6th Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru

• 6th India-France Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) co-chaired by Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and French Minister of Armed Forces & Veterans Affairs Catherine Vautrin in Bengaluru on 17 Feb 2026.
• Marquee outcome: renewal of bilateral defence cooperation agreement for 10 years and signing of a BEL–Safran JV MoU for Hammer air-to-surface missile manufacture in India.
• UPSC relevance: flagship instrument of the India-France Strategic Partnership (since 1998) and the Horizon 2047 Roadmap; touches Make in India (defence), Indo-Pacific strategy and atmanirbharta in weapons.