This edition of Defence Dispatch covers four developments from July. We begin with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's visit to India, which produced the first India-Japan defence co-development project and set the stage for a potential Make in India partnership on the Mogami-class stealth frigate. Next, the defence outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia, where a major BrahMos package and a first-of-its-kind Astra missile agreement mark a new phase in India's defence export trajectory. Third, PM Modi's visits to Australia and New Zealand, which deepened India's presence in the Southern Indo-Pacific through a renewed defence declaration, new maritime arrangements and the closing of a forty-year diplomatic gap. Finally, the maiden flight test of DRDO's indigenous Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile, a milestone in India's pursuit of self-reliant air defence capability. 

In Focus: 

India-Japan: Defence Co-Development Arrives 

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited India from 1 to 3 July for the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit, her first official visit. The summit produced arguably the widest set of bilateral outcomes since the two countries adopted the Special Strategic and Global Partnership, anchored by a Joint Statement and separate declarations on economic security, AI and energy resilience. On defence, the centrepiece was the agreement to co-develop the Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN), a next-generation naval communications system for Indian Navy warships. UNICORN is already operational on Japan's Mogami-class frigates, making this the first co-development of military hardware between the two countries, with the remaining technical details agreed in principle. The two sides also agreed to deepen cooperation on Indian Ocean training, naval maintenance and repair, and defence equipment under Make in India. 

What gave the summit its forward-looking edge was the sequence that followed. On 13 July, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh co-chaired the 8th Defence Policy Dialogue in Tokyo before touring a Mogami-class stealth frigate at a Japanese naval base in Hiroshima. This followed Japan's reported offer to share the Mogami design and support its construction at Indian shipyards, the first time Tokyo has proposed transferring an advanced frontline warship platform under Make in India. Japan has only recently relaxed its longstanding restrictions on defence exports. For India, the proposition carries appeal: a stealth frigate designed for a crew of roughly ninety, and adaptable for Indian systems integration including BrahMos. Whether the proposal advances into a formal programme is yet to be seen. But the relationship's trajectory, from a historically buyer-seller dynamic toward genuine defence-industrial partnership, is now anchored by UNICORN as a first tangible project and the Mogami as a credible second prospect. 

Why it matters for naval and defence technology businesses: UNICORN provides the first working template for India-Japan defence industrial collaboration. Companies in naval communications, frigate-class systems integration and shipyard infrastructure should track both projects as the co-development model takes shape. 

India-Indonesia: BrahMos, Astra and the Defence Export Arc 

Prime Minister Modi visited Jakarta from 6 to 8 July to meet Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. The visit produced multiple agreements, but the defence outcomes carried the most weight. India and Indonesia agreed to cooperate on the BrahMos missile alongside a new Air-to-Air Missile Cooperation Agreement between Bharat Dynamics Limited and Indonesia's Republikorp covering the Astra missile. Together, the two packages are estimated at approximately $630 million, well above the $375 million contract with the Philippines in 2022. The Astra deal makes Indonesia the missile's first export customer, and Jakarta will reportedly integrate the Astra Mk-1, a beyond-visual-range missile with a range of 80-110 km and speeds up to Mach 4.5, into its Russian-built Sukhoi fleet. 

After the Philippines in 2022, Vietnam confirmed in May, and now Indonesia, overlapping coastal-strike coverage is taking shape across critical Indo-Pacific sea lanes, described as a "BrahMos belt" in the region. Where China has built a significant defence export presence, these partnerships give regional states a credible alternative industrial partner and advance India's ambition of becoming a leading defence exporter. 

Why it matters for defence exporters and manufacturers: The Indonesia package demonstrates that combat-proven systems from Operation Sindoor are seemingly translating into export orders. Indian missile manufacturers, systems integrators and defence logistics firms now have a growing regional footprint to build on. 

India-Australia-New Zealand: Building Out the Southern Indo-Pacific 

Prime Minister Modi's visits to Melbourne (8 to 10 July) and Auckland (11 July) closed a six-day, three-country Indo-Pacific tour, and together produced the most substantive set of Southern Indo-Pacific defence outcomes India has secured in a single stretch. 

In Melbourne, PM Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese co-chaired the Third India-Australia Annual Summit, adopting a new Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation committing both countries to deeper military engagement, expanded defence industrial collaboration and wider maritime security cooperation. PM Modi announced that the two sides would work toward an India-Australia defence innovation corridor. The summit also finalised an arrangement to export Australian uranium for India's civilian nuclear programme, more than a decade in the making since the original 2014 pact. With Australia holding roughly 28 percent of global uranium resources and India targeting 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, the agreement reflects a degree of strategic trust between two democracies whose interests increasingly overlap. Australia's 2026 National Defence Strategy, which we covered in our April edition, identified India as Canberra's "most important defence partner in the Northeast Indian Ocean". These developments suggest the relationship is beginning to catch up operationally with the strategic language Australia has already adopted toward India. 

In Auckland, PM Modi's visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister to New Zealand in four decades, elevated the relationship to a Strategic Partnership. The two sides endorsed a four-year "Roadmap to 2030" and concluded a Maritime Cooperation Arrangement, an implementing arrangement on hydrography and nautical cartography, and a Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement focused on the maritime domain. New Zealand has named maritime security as its priority pillar under India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, and both sides agreed to an annual Maritime Security Dialogue. Defence cooperation historically centered on staff exchanges and ship visits now has a standing logistics framework, a regular dialogue mechanism and institutional ownership on both sides. 

Why it matters for maritime and dual-use businesses: The defence innovation corridor with Australia and the logistics framework with New Zealand create tangible openings in maritime surveillance, autonomous systems, port security and defence sustainment services across the Southern Indo-Pacific. 

Project Kusha: India's Indigenous Air Defence Takes Flight 

On 23 July, DRDO successfully conducted the maiden flight test of the Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The system intercepted an electronic target simulating a high-speed, high-altitude aerial threat, with every component - missiles, radars, and command-and-control - developed by DRDO laboratories and industry partners. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who has called Project Kusha a "game changer", noted that only a handful of nations can develop long-range surface-to-air missile systems. 

Kusha is designed as a three-tier interceptor architecture - M1 at roughly 150 km, M2 at 250 km, and M3 at 350-400 km - sharing a common kill-vehicle technology that gives it an outer engagement envelope comparable to the Russian S-400 or the US Patriot. The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the programme in May 2022, and the Defence Acquisition Council granted Acceptance of Necessity in September 2023 for five IAF squadrons at ₹21,700 crore - roughly half the $5.43 billion India paid in 2018 for a comparable five-squadron S-400 package. 

The system is intended to work alongside the S-400 rather than replace it, and is expected to become a central component of Mission Sudarshan Chakra, the plan for a multilayered national defence umbrella by 2035. India's S-400 deliveries have been delayed by Russia's military commitments amid the Ukraine conflict, and Operation Sindoor underscored just how critical the S-400 is to India's air defence posture. As a domestic system, Kusha can be scaled without dependence on a foreign supplier's production priorities - an independence that carries real operational value as threats multiply with drones, cruise missiles and advanced fighter aircraft.