Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto To Visit India, Ties Expected To Improve

With the “Marines problem” resolved and India lifting its ban on Leonardo, closer defence ties between Rome and New Delhi are anticipated, with Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto arriving in the coming weeks.

Crosetto's journey follows Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's recent trip to India. Crosetto's visit is yet another sign of the two nations' growing defence ties. As part of the Atmanirbharata program, India is looking at two areas: joint development and manufacturing of weapons systems and Make in India for the World.

Because Leonardo is one of the world's top ten defence manufacturers, there is always the possibility of joint cooperation, especially in the aerospace sector, which includes satellites and helicopters. There's always MBDA, which is partly Italian and partly French and British and is renowned for its air-to-air, surface-to-air, anti-ship, and anti-tank missiles like the Exocet and the Milan (which India has).

One significant point that India has already raised with Leonardo concerns the sale of weapons to Pakistan. The Pakistan Navy was very interested in Leonardo's torpedoes and a senior vice admiral visited the Pakistan Navy's headquarters and received demonstrations. However, India has made it clear that selling weapons to Pakistan is a concern now that the prohibition has been removed.

The Marines issue had been a source of contention between the two nations for some time, with two Italians detained in India for two and four years, respectively. The soldiers had killed him. two Indian fishermen in 2012 off the coast of Kerala, thinking they were acting aggressively. After nearly a decade of litigation and diplomatic talks, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss the case in 2021.