India Turns to German Submarines in a Push for Military Self-Reliance

India is moving toward a multibillion-dollar deal to acquire German submarines, a transaction that Deutsche Welle describes as both a step in New Delhi's push for defense self-reliance and a sign of Berlin's growing engagement in the Indo-Pacific.

The strategic logic runs through India's neighbors. New Delhi is expanding its undersea fleet as China extends its naval reach into the Indian Ocean and as Pakistan upgrades its own submarine force, much of it Chinese-supplied. The German offer pairs advanced vessels with local construction and technology transfer, the terms India increasingly demands so that production and skills stay onshore.

For Germany, the deal is part of a wider effort to diversify its defense exports and build security ties beyond Europe, at a moment when a separate German-French defense project appears to be in trouble. The arrangement knits a major European arms maker more tightly into Asia's accelerating naval competition.