# India Joins a New Middle-Power Bloc as Britain and Indonesia Expand Defence Capability

The Partners for Multilateralism grouping, founded by the European Union with Brazil, Kenya and Canada, held its first session as Britain announced a military space squadron and Indonesia sent Rafale pilots to France.

- Published: 2026-09-23T10:54:04.121Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-23/india-joins-a-new-middle-power-bloc-as-britain-and-indonesia
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3368506/indias-new-p4m-middle-power-group-enters-crowded-field), [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2032073/uk-to-launch-new-military-space-squadron-to-protect-satellites), [Antara](https://en.antaranews.com/news/432421/indonesian-air-force-sends-rafale-pilots-to-france-for-tactical-course)

India's external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, co-chaired the inaugural session of Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) in New York, a grouping founded by the European Union with Brazil, Kenya and Canada and joined by Australia, Barbados and India. The [South China Morning Post described it as entering a crowded field](https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3368506/indias-new-p4m-middle-power-group-enters-crowded-field) of overlapping coalitions, and analysts quoted in the report read New Delhi's participation as an effort to widen its diplomatic options while it presses for changes to the global order.

Defence procurement is moving on the same logic. Britain said it will create a Royal Air Force squadron to protect its satellites, [Dawn reported](https://www.dawn.com/news/2032073/uk-to-launch-new-military-space-squadron-to-protect-satellites), joining a set of countries building military space capability. Indonesia's air force is sending a cohort of Rafale pilots to France for advanced tactical training, [Antara reported](https://en.antaranews.com/news/432421/indonesian-air-force-sends-rafale-pilots-to-france-for-tactical-course), deepening a supplier relationship with Paris rather than with Washington.

Taken together, the three moves describe a pattern rather than three unrelated decisions. States that once organised their diplomacy and their arms purchases around American leadership are now assembling their own coalitions and diversifying their suppliers. Each individual step is modest. The cumulative effect is a defence market with more buyers shopping across more vendors, and a diplomatic map with more venues where a crisis can be negotiated, or left unresolved.

## What this means

European defence contractors, notably France's Dassault Aviation and the satellite and space-services firms supplying Britain's new squadron, gain order flow as states diversify away from single-supplier dependence on the United States. For American defence exporters the effect is the reverse, and it compounds slowly because pilot training and maintenance contracts lock buyers in for decades. On the diplomatic side, more overlapping groupings means more forums with partial membership, which makes coordinated responses to a crisis harder to assemble even as each grouping claims to strengthen multilateralism.

## What to watch

- Whether P4M produces a concrete negotiating position on Security Council or trade reform, which separates a working coalition from a communique.
- Further orders for French, South Korean or Turkish military aircraft from states that previously bought American, since training cohorts usually precede procurement.
- How many states announce dedicated military space units over the coming months, which measures how fast satellite protection becomes a standard defence line item.