HADR has emerged as a key instrument of India's defence diplomacy in its neighbourhood. Examine with reference to recent India–Myanmar engagements.

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) means using military assets for disaster relief, and it is now central to India's outreach to its neighbours. In November 2026, India and Myanmar held RAHAT MITRA, their first Tri-Services HADR exercise, at Chennai [1]. The engagement brings real gains but also has clear limits.

HADR as diplomacy: India–Myanmar evidence

• First responder: after the March 2025 earthquake, India launched Operation Brahma, and its first ship sailed within 12 hours [2]. INS Satpura and Savitri carried relief to Yangon [3].
• Whole-of-government: nine aircraft, five ships, an NDRF rescue team and an Army field hospital at Mandalay delivered about 1,000 tonnes of aid [4].
• Track record: under Operation Karuna (2023), four naval ships moved cyclone relief to Yangon [5].
• Institutionalisation: coordinated naval patrols began in 2013, with an SOP signed in 2016 [6]. These now extend to an all-services drill coordinated by the Indian Navy [1].

Why it works

• Low-risk trust-building: non-combat engagement builds interoperability and mutual trust [1].
• Policy fit: it puts Neighbourhood First and MAHASAGAR into practice [1].
• Strategic space: Russia (~US$400 million) and China (~US$260 million) supply far more arms to Myanmar's military than India-based entities (~US$51 million) [7]. HADR keeps India relevant without competing on arms.

Limitations

• Legitimacy cost: India's partner is the military that seized power in the 2021 coup, which a UN expert accuses of abuses [7].
• Last-mile access: the UN rights chief reported that the military restricted aid access further after the quake [8]. Once relief is handed over in Yangon, the regime decides who receives it.
• Military-only design: the UN Oslo Guidelines limit military assets to extraordinary circumstances under humanitarian principles [9]. Yet the drill left out the NDRF that served in Operation Brahma [4].
• Mixed signals: India decided in 2024 to scrap the Free Movement Regime [10], tightening security on the land border even as ties at sea grow warmer.

Way forward

• Include NDMA/NDRF in future editions and invite UN OCHA as an observer.
• Seek assured relief access for conflict-hit border regions.

HADR has become a credible, low-cost tool of India's defence diplomacy with Myanmar, maturing from Operation Brahma into regular drills like RAHAT MITRA. Adding civilian agencies and securing access for aid would align it with the Oslo Guidelines and the Sendai Framework, strengthening India's standing as the region's trusted first responder.