Diplomacy

The industrial relationship is also moving beyond the production of aircraft structures. Tata Advanced Systems and Lockheed Martin broke ground in Bengaluru in December 2025 on a new defence Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility for the C-130 family. The facility is intended initially to strengthen in-country support for the Indian Air Force’s Super Hercules fleet, with the potential to support other C-130 operators in the region and internationally.

Doval is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Monday, with the 25th round of Special Representatives talks expected to take place on Tuesday. Both officials serve as their respective countries’ designated Special Representatives for negotiations on the India-China boundary question, a mechanism established in 2003 to address the long-running dispute and manage recurring tensions along the frontier.

The two countries also agreed to increase exchanges between their armed forces through more joint exercises, professional military training and capacity-building programmes. These measures are intended to improve interoperability while creating regular opportunities for both militaries to share operational experience and best practices.

India and the United States are preparing to conduct the 22nd edition of Exercise Yudh Abhyas in September 2026, with part of the bilateral Army exercise scheduled at Auli in Uttarakhand, around 95 km from the Line of Actual Control with China. The exercise will also include a major desert-warfare phase at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan, exposing troops to two very different operational environments.

The exercise involved complex Large Force Employment missions conducted in a demanding, high-threat and multi-domain operational environment. Such missions are designed to test the ability of participating forces to coordinate large formations of aircraft, integrate different platforms and execute complex combat scenarios involving multiple allied air forces.