The new India–France defense pact marks a quiet shift in the Indo-Pacific. Framed as joint research and development (R&D), aimed at co-producing cutting-edge munitions and tech, it actually reflects India’s move away from empty US promises toward real French technology, thereby diluting the Quad’s “Asian NATO” logic and echoing Paris’ parallel resistance to NATO’s Indo-Pacific push. While Trump’s Washington welcomes the burden-sharing, the deal also accelerates a turn toward flexible partnerships and away from bloc discipline — a quiet de-NATOization of the Quad, so to speak.

The timing, in fact, could not be more pointed. Expert Usman Haider laid it out in The Diplomat thusly: the Indian-French pact stems directly from the India-US Defense Technology and Trade Initiative’s (DTTI) long stagnation — or its “failure” as Javin Aryan, a former Research Assistant with ORFs Strategic Studies Programme, puts it). The DTTI was announced with big expectations, but it delivered little beyond discussions, with no meaningful technology sharing.

Then came the May 2025 India-Pakistan border clash, and strained ties with Washington made US support look uncertain. Paris seized the moment, still smarting from the AUKUS snub (that cost it a submarine deal with Australia), and offered New Delhi real cooperation. The result is mutual gain: India funds joint R&D to get advanced tech, while France expands arms sales and influence.

Recently, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)........

© Blitz