Advancing India-South Korea defence innovation ties

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973, India and South Korea have maintained defence ties. Their first formal agreement, the 2005 MoU on Defence Industry and Logistics, promoted cooperation in production, research and development, and procurement. Subsequently, they signed separate five-year memoranda of understanding on defence cooperation and defence research and development (R&D) in 2010.

The first enabled exchanges of expertise, training, visits and joint exercises, while the second focused on emerging technologies such as marine, electronics, and intelligent systems through links between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the South Korean defence industry. In 2015, the partnership was elevated to a Special Strategic Partnership.

Furthermore, the 2020 Roadmap for Defence Industries Cooperation expanded engagements into key areas, such as land, naval, aero, and guided weapon systems, along with investments and technology transfer in India’s defence industrial corridors. A notable outcome of this partnership is the K9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery system, manufactured in India by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, whose success led to a follow-on production contract.

The new platform

On April 20, 2026, at the India-South Korea Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Lee Jae Myung, a new defence innovation platform called the Korea-India Defence Accelerator (KIND-X) was announced.

As part of the Joint Strategic Vision, KIND-X aims to connect businesses, incubators, investors, defence start-ups, and universities from both sides. KIND-X is not a new model of cooperation for India.

It mirrors similar defence industrial innovation bridges with the United States under INDUS-X (India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem) and with France under FRIND-X (France-India Defence Startup Excellence). There have also been suggestions to create an INDUS-X-like model with South Korea. Drawing on these existing models, KIND-X is expected to be led by South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and India’s Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO). Both countries run defence innovation programmes to strengthen their defence start-up ecosystems, such as South Korea’s specialised innovation enterprise system and India’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX).

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs special briefing on April 20, 2024, KIND-X is expected to align with the 2020 Roadmap for Defence Industries Cooperation.

What can be unlocked

What can KIND-X unlock? KIND-X can emerge as the “defence innovation bridge”, expanding defence R&D, innovation, co-development and co-production, involving startups, investors, universities, academia, and think tanks, essentially creating a joint defence innovation and industrial ecosystem from both countries. This may involve release of joint challenges and grants by DAPA and DIO for their respective startups to innovate defence technologies in the areas envisaged under the 2020 road map.

It may facilitate access to testing facilities through universities and laboratories in both countries, promote joint certification and standardisation processes, and support accelerator and incubator programmes connecting investors and innovators from both sides. It may also include workshops to help stakeholders navigate each other’s markets and production systems. These workshops can address export control regimes, funding models for defence production, and intellectual property and licensing requirements related to technology transfer for co-production and co-development.

An annual summit, similar to the INDUS-X summit, could convene high-level representatives from defence ministries, industry, universities, think tanks, and academia in Seoul, New Delhi, and other industrial hubs. The KIND-X summit could also convene Track 1.5 dialogues to emphasise the strategic rationale for bilateral defence cooperation, foster networking, and periodically assess progress on deliverables under the initiative.

The success of KIND-X will depend on leveraging existing co-production ventures such as the K9 Vajra-T howitzers by L&T and Hanwha Aerospace to create templates for future defence projects. It will connect South Korea’s innovation clusters in Changwon, Daejeon, and Gumi with India’s defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, and with aerospace hubs in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Involving major firms such as Hyundai, L&T, Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Mahindra, Bharat Forge, Hanwha, LIG, and Kangnam, alongside start-ups and R&D ecosystems, can further expand linkages.

As an innovation bridge

The launch of KIND-X as a defence innovation bridge signals both governments’ keenness to unlock their respective deep-tech innovation ecosystems to develop dual-use technologies. With deepening ties across other strategic sectors such as shipbuilding, artificial intelligence, space, critical minerals, and semiconductors, KIND-X can complement and draw on convergences in these sectors for defence.

Aligning with India’s Defence Forces Vision 2047 and South Korea’s Defence Innovation 4.0 strategy, and co-investing in emerging and future technologies will be key to making this initiative forward-looking. Potential areas under KIND-X include Artificial Intelligence platforms for military applications, autonomous weapon systems and robotics, joint development of satellites for space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), Space Situational Awareness (SSA), communication and navigation, critical mineral supply chains, and defence semiconductor fabs. Given both countries’ growing defence exports, KIND-X can emerge as an important facilitator.

The onus is now upon both defence ministries to curate tangible deliverables under KIND-X, clarifying its steering template, funding mechanisms and areas of joint innovation.

Tejas Bharadwaj is Senior research analyst in the Technology and Society Program at Carnegie India. Mugdha Satpute is Research assistant in the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India

Published – May 11, 2026 12:08 am IST