The Rajnath Singh Hegseth meeting in Cebu, Philippines, on Wednesday marked one year of the defence framework that India and the United States signed in 2025. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) and took stock of the progress made under that agreement.

The two leaders went over military technology, information sharing and the joint production of defence equipment. They also discussed the situation in the Indo-Pacific and the way security in the region is changing, according to reports from Cebu.

Both men spoke about the talks soon after.

"Had an excellent meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the side-lines of the 13th ADMM-Plus. Our robust partnership continues to be a cornerstone for a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific," Singh said in a post on X.

Hegseth called it a great meeting. "We celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Framework for our Major Defense Partnership and explored ways to strengthen cooperation," he said in his own post.

Rajnath Singh Hegseth meeting: what the US readout says

The US Department of War issued a readout of the Rajnath Singh Hegseth meeting. According to the readout, the two leaders reviewed progress on operational coordination, information sharing and defence industrial cooperation. They exchanged views on new areas where the two militaries can work together, and agreed to keep expanding the partnership in support of shared interests across the region, the readout said.

The US Department of War is the name the American defence department has used since September 2025.

Two days of talks in Cebu

Singh reached Cebu on Tuesday night. He is leading the Indian delegation at the two-day meeting on October 28 and 29, and will address the forum on regional and international security issues.

The ADMM-Plus brings together the 11 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and eight dialogue partners. These are India, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States. The Philippines holds the chair this year, after Malaysia handed it over at the end of the Kuala Lumpur meeting in 2025.

Apart from the United States, Singh is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea. Hegseth also met representatives from South Korea, Australia and Japan on Wednesday. The forum has long served as a meeting point for Indian and US defence chiefs. Singh first met a US defence secretary on its sidelines in Bangkok in November 2019, when he held talks with Mark Esper.

The ten year defence framework signed in Kuala Lumpur

The anniversary goes back to Kuala Lumpur. Singh and Hegseth signed a ten year Defence Framework on 31 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 12th ADMM-Plus, according to the Ministry of Defence annual report for 2025-26.

The framework sets the direction for the relationship over the next decade. Critical technologies, information sharing and the co-production of military hardware sit at its core. It followed the previous ten year framework, which the two countries signed in 2015 and which guided defence ties until 2025.

Singh addressed that Kuala Lumpur meeting on the theme Reflection on 15 Years of ADMM-Plus and Charting the Way Forward. India, an ASEAN dialogue partner since 1992, has been part of the ADMM-Plus since its start in 2010.

Information sharing at sea

Work at sea moved on a parallel track. The Indian Navy and US Indo-Pacific Command renewed their Maritime Defence Information Sharing and Cooperation technical arrangement for five years from 26 October 2025, the annual report said. An 18th Defence Policy Group meeting in March 2026 then exchanged an underwater domain awareness roadmap between the two navies.

India also approved four new International Liaison Officer posts, the report said. They are at INDOPACOM in Hawaii, the Combined Maritime Force in Bahrain and two Indian Ocean fusion centres.

A busy year for India-US defence ties

The months since have been packed. At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this year, Singh met a bipartisan US Congressional delegation led by Representative Pat Harrigan. Later, US Ambassador Sergio Gor watched Indian and US troops fire together at the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges during Yudh Abhyas 2026 on 24 September.

Days later, on 28 September, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh met a bipartisan US House delegation led by Representative Brian Mast, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Defence industrial and technological cooperation was at the centre of those talks.

Earlier this month, Adm Samuel Paparo, Commander of the US Pacific Command, made a four-day visit to India and met the Defence Secretary on defence and strategic cooperation. A day before that meeting, Ambassador Gor had hosted him at Roosevelt House along with Chief of Defence Staff Gen NS Raja Subramani and Army Chief Gen Dhiraj Seth.