Army Chief Lt Gen BKGML Rodrigo’s visit to New Delhi reflects deepening bilateral defence cooperation and joint Indo-Pacific strategic interests
(Lanka-e-News -12.June.2025, 11.00 PM) In a strategic manoeuvre emblematic of a shifting Indian Ocean security architecture, India has stepped up its military diplomacy with Sri Lanka by hosting the island nation's Army Commander, Lieutenant General BKGML Rodrigo, for a four-day official visit to New Delhi. The tour, which began on 11 June, follows closely on the heels of a landmark defence pact signed between the two nations in April 2025, and reflects an intensifying military relationship forged in the crucible of shared geostrategic imperatives.
The visit comes at a critical juncture for South Asian maritime security and Indo-Pacific realignment. It also underscores India’s growing inclination to embed itself as Sri Lanka’s primary security guarantor amid an increasingly competitive strategic landscape influenced by China’s persistent maritime outreach, particularly through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and sustained involvement in the Port City of Colombo and Hambantota.
According to an official communiqué issued by the Indian Ministry of Defence, Lt Gen Rodrigo’s itinerary includes high-level engagements with his Indian counterpart, General Manoj Pande, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and senior commanders at India’s Integrated Defence Headquarters. A ceremonial Guard of Honour was accorded to him at South Block, a gesture reflecting the esteem in which India holds its southern neighbour.
The Indian Army, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), framed the visit as one intended to “strengthen bilateral military cooperation, with a focus on training, capability enhancement and identifying new avenues for collaboration.” Behind the diplomatic pleasantries, however, lie more profound security objectives: counterbalancing China’s deepening defence ties in South Asia, ensuring maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean, and stabilising Sri Lanka's domestic defence posture in the aftermath of its recent internal economic and political crisis.
Sources within the Indian defence establishment have confirmed to Jane’s Defence Weekly that discussions during the visit also include mechanisms for interoperability, cyber defence coordination, border security logistics, and tactical military education. Moreover, the potential deployment of India-assisted military hardware to Sri Lanka under concessional credit arrangements is reportedly under negotiation.
Rodrigo’s India visit takes place within a broader mosaic of expanding Indo-Lankan military relations. In April 2025, India and Sri Lanka formalised a Comprehensive Defence Cooperation Agreement (CDCA), following bilateral talks in New Delhi between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The CDCA lays the foundation for a structured and institutionalised military relationship.
According to officials familiar with the agreement, key features of the pact include:
Establishing an annual India-Sri Lanka Defence Dialogue at the ministerial level.
Initiating tri-service joint military exercises under a unified Indo-Lankan command simulation.
Facilitating defence industrial partnerships, particularly in shipbuilding, logistics, and UAV systems.
Enhancing intelligence-sharing mechanisms, particularly with regard to transnational threats such as narcotics trafficking and maritime piracy.
“The CDCA is not just a political symbol; it is a military planning document,” a senior Indian Army official told Indian Defence Weekly. “It transforms ad-hoc military goodwill into operational continuity.”
Further reinforcing this strategic trajectory was the first-ever India-Sri Lanka Defence Dialogue held in Colombo on June 6, just five days before Rodrigo’s departure for India. Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh met with Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd), where both sides committed to “elevating cooperation across maritime security, regional stability, and defence industry collaboration.”
The key takeaway from the Colombo Dialogue was the joint decision to launch coordinated coastal surveillance operations using India-provided radar systems installed across Sri Lanka’s southern and eastern littorals. This development is viewed as pivotal in detecting illicit maritime movements and countering grey-zone tactics allegedly employed by regional non-state actors and Chinese-flagged trawlers.
Analysts in New Delhi believe the Colombo Dialogue also paves the way for Indian naval access agreements to certain Sri Lankan deep-water berths on a rotational basis, particularly in Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai. While Colombo remains tight-lipped on these developments, defence observers interpret such access as a response to China’s increasing naval footprints in the region.
India’s role as a key training hub for Sri Lanka’s armed forces is not new, but its scale is now unprecedented. As per figures released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, approximately 700 Sri Lankan military personnel—both officers and enlisted ranks—are currently enrolled in Indian defence institutions such as the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai, the National Defence College (NDC) in New Delhi, and the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Mizoram.
These training opportunities are not merely technical in nature; they serve as ideological incubators that strengthen civil-military alignment in Colombo. According to Brigadier (Retd) Ajit Menon, a South Asia military expert, “Training in India offers Sri Lankan personnel exposure to democratic military traditions, civil control norms, and integrated operational planning frameworks.”
India offers more defence training slots to Sri Lanka than to any other foreign country—an allocation that speaks volumes about strategic prioritisation. Officials within Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence have confirmed to Defence Weekly that further training opportunities in cyber operations, underwater warfare, and space-based reconnaissance are currently being negotiated.
Behind the flurry of bilateral defence activity lies an unspoken but omnipresent geopolitical factor: China. Over the past decade, Beijing has entrenched itself in Sri Lanka through infrastructure partnerships, port buildings, and selective military donations. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has made multiple calls at Sri Lankan ports, as trusted partner of the Sri Lanka.
Lt Gen Rodrigo’s trip is likely to culminate in several memoranda of understanding, including an enhanced logistics agreement allowing Indian platforms to refuel and replenish at Sri Lankan military installations during humanitarian missions and disaster relief operations.
Plans are also afoot to establish a “Sri Lanka–India Centre for Defence Innovation” (SLICDI), likely based in Colombo or Galle, with assistance from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This centre is intended to foster indigenous R&D in coastal surveillance systems, communications encryption, and light armoured vehicle upgrades for Sri Lanka’s ground forces.
This proposed centre is emblematic of the new era in Indo-Lankan defence engagement: one built on co-development rather than one-way assistance. For India, this is part of its broader push for self-reliance in defence (Atmanirbhar Bharat), while for Sri Lanka, it provides a path to escape overdependence on Chinese military tech.
Despite these optimistic developments, challenges remain. India must tread carefully in balancing its overtures to Sri Lanka without overstepping into perceived interference. Memories of India’s military intervention in the 1980s through the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) still linger in parts of Sri Lankan political consciousness.
Furthermore, internal political fragmentation and economic uncertainty in Colombo could slow implementation of joint defence programmes. Already, opposition figures in Sri Lanka have criticised the April defence pact as “pandering to foreign interests.”
There is also the question of regional reactions—especially from China and Pakistan, both of whom maintain their own strategic ties with Colombo. China, in particular, may view India’s growing influence as a threat to its own investment security in the island nation.
The visit of Sri Lanka’s Army Chief to India is far more than a ceremonial gesture. It is a statement of intent—a signal that the two democracies are increasingly aligning their military futures in an unpredictable Indo-Pacific landscape. As geopolitical fault lines shift and the Indian Ocean becomes a theatre of great power contestation, partnerships like that of India and Sri Lanka will define the contours of regional stability.
India’s strategy is clear: to be seen not merely as a donor or responder, but as a long-term defence partner in the truest sense. For Sri Lanka, the opportunity lies in leveraging this partnership to modernise its forces, reduce strategic vulnerabilities, and reaffirm its role as a sovereign actor in the emerging Asian order.
The handshake between Lt Gen Rodrigo and Gen Manoj Pande is, therefore, more than military protocol—it is the handshake of future-readiness.
-By LeN Defence Correspondent
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by (2025-06-12 21:51:46)
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