India-Australia Army Staff Talks concluded in New Delhi on Wednesday, with the 13th round of the dialogue between the Indian Army and the Australian Army focused on further strengthening bilateral defence cooperation.

The talks ran from Monday to Wednesday. Discussions covered expanding the scope and scale of engagement between the two Armies across areas of shared interest.

What the 13th India-Australia Army Staff Talks covered

Army-to-Army Staff Talks are the structured working-level channel through which the two forces review ongoing cooperation and plan exercises, training exchanges and visits. This round reaffirmed the partnership and mutual trust between the two Armies, and the delegations discussed ways to take bilateral defence cooperation further.


CLAWS visit and homage at the National War Memorial

Outside the formal sessions, the Australian delegation visited the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), the Army's think tank in New Delhi, for discussions on contemporary security issues.

The visiting officers also paid homage to fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial.

AUSTRAHIND, the Armies' field exercise

The two Armies meet in the field through Exercise AUSTRAHIND. Its fourth edition was held at Irwin Barracks in Perth from 13 to 26 October 2025, with an Indian contingent of 120 personnel led by a battalion of the Gorkha Rifles along with troops from other arms and services. According to the Ministry of Defence, that edition focused on joint company-level operations in open and semi-desert terrain, with sub-conventional warfare in urban and semi-urban settings as the training domain. The third edition had been held in November 2024 at the Foreign Training Node in Pune.

A shift towards amphibious and littoral training

The exercise is changing shape. The joint statement from the second India-Australia Defence Ministers' Dialogue in June noted that AUSTRAHIND has moved towards amphibious combat and littoral manoeuvre. The same statement provided for expanded Indian participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre in 2027, and slated the first India-Australia joint staff talks, a tri-service format separate from the Army track, for later this year.

A full India-Australia defence calendar in 2026

The India-Australia Army Staff Talks come in a year of dense contact between the two defence establishments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese renewed the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation at the Third India-Australia Annual Summit in July, and the declaration text was released by the Australian Prime Minister's office.

Earlier this month, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, held talks in Canberra with Australia's naval and defence force chiefs on 2027 exercise opportunities.

In the air, Indian Air Force Rafales flew at Exercise Pitch Black in Darwin in July and August, the first time the IAF fielded the Rafale at the Royal Australian Air Force's flagship exercise.