India Poland defence cooperation was the focus of a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting in New Delhi on Monday. Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar co-chaired it with Poland's Secretary of State and Deputy Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, the Ministry of Defence said.

The meeting focused on operationalising the Joint Action Plan (2024-2028) and on further strengthening institutional, defence and defence industrial cooperation between the two countries.

India Poland defence cooperation under the Action Plan

The Action Plan is the five-year roadmap issued when the two countries raised ties to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Warsaw on 22 August 2024. It lists defence among its areas, alongside trade, agri-tech, energy, green technologies, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and mining. The JWG on defence cooperation has been the standing government-to-government channel between the two sides since 2004.

The stated task on Monday was to operationalise the plan.


The delegations in New Delhi

Sobkowiak-Czarnecka took over as Deputy Minister of National Defence in Poland in June 2026, according to Polish government announcements at the time. Her stated priorities included expanding and equipping the Polish armed forces and promoting the country's defence industry abroad. The Polish Ministry of National Defence lists her as Secretary of State.

Ministry photographs from the meeting show Kumar and Sobkowiak-Czarnecka holding a carved wooden elephant, and a group picture with officials from both sides, including Polish military officers in uniform.

Kumar heads the Department of Defence Production, which oversees the defence public sector undertakings and the government's industrial policy for the sector, the machinery behind India's record defence production figures. In August he told an industry conference in New Delhi that India's defence design capability has to follow its manufacturing scale.

A defence channel with roots in 2004

The bilateral defence record shows a Defence Cooperation Agreement in 2003 and the JWG set up the following year. It also lists purchases from Polish industry: 22 TS-11 Iskra jet trainers and 44 WZT-3 armoured recovery vehicles in 1998.

The road since the Strategic Partnership

PM Modi and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the upgrade to a Strategic Partnership after talks in Warsaw. On India Poland defence cooperation, Tusk said at the time that Poland was ready to take part in the modernisation of military equipment. Earlier reporting had noted that India had recently reopened the defence wing of its embassy in Warsaw.

Defence industrial ties are a live track with other partners too. The India-Indonesia defence pact covering Astra, BrahMos and Sabang Port came in July.

Foreign Office consultations

The 11th round of Foreign Office Consultations, held in New Delhi on 1 December 2025, agreed to expedite cooperation in defence and security, science and technology, cyber security and artificial intelligence. Secretary (West) Sibi George and Polish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Wladyslaw T Bartoszewski co-chaired it. The two met again in New Delhi in February to review the Strategic Partnership and the key deliverables of the Action Plan.