India and Japan concluded their 16th annual summit in New Delhi on Thursday with a series of binding agreements, including their first-ever defence co-development project, a joint declaration on economic security, and a roadmap for artificial intelligence cooperation. The centrepiece of the defence partnership is the co-production of the UNICORN integrated communications mast for Indian Navy warships, a system designed to reduce radar cross-sections. The two governments also adopted a joint statement that, according to the official text, “unequivocally and strongly condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism from Pakistan,” and called for action against Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Viewed from New Delhi and Tokyo, the summit marked a deliberate effort to align strategic postures amid what the joint statement described as “grave concerns” over economic coercion. Indian officials noted that the economic security framework targets supply-chain resilience in semiconductors, critical minerals, and pharmaceuticals, explicitly aiming to reduce dependence on single-country sources—a formulation widely understood in both capitals as a reference to China. Japanese officials, briefing media after the talks, stressed that the defence technology transfer is intended for defensive purposes and represents a milestone in the bilateral security relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public reference to his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi as his “younger sister” was presented by both sides as a reflection of the personal trust underpinning the strategic partnership.

The UNICORN mast, to be manufactured by India’s Bharat Electronics Limited with design input from Japanese firms, will consolidate multiple antennas into a single low-observable structure, enhancing the stealth profile of future Indian surface combatants. The economic security declaration identifies five priority sectors—semiconductors, critical minerals, information and communication technology, clean energy, and pharmaceuticals—and establishes a bilateral dialogue on oil stockpiling. Japan will support India’s bid for membership in the International Energy Agency and assist in building 1,000 biogas plants. On artificial intelligence, the two sides agreed to joint research on large language models and to grant Indian companies access to a Japanese government-affiliated supercomputer. Business forums on the sidelines produced approximately 120 cooperation documents and around 2 trillion yen in investments, advancing the shared target of 10 trillion yen in Japanese investment in India over a decade.

The summit unfolded against the backdrop of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, where Japanese vessels remain stranded, and broader vulnerabilities in global supply chains. Both governments, according to the joint statement, view economic security as integral to national security. The leaders agreed to convene a 2+2 foreign and defence ministerial dialogue by the end of the year and to expedite the next Quad leaders’ summit. Analysts in New Delhi noted that the explicit naming of Pakistan in the terrorism condemnation, absent from the previous year’s statement, signals a hardening of diplomatic language. Implementation of the agreements will be tracked through existing bilateral mechanisms, with the defence co-development project expected to move into the production phase following the formal exchange of memoranda.