Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force (IAF), on Monday, 29 June held formal talks with Lieutenant General Antonio Conserva, Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, in New Delhi, focusing on expanding bilateral defence cooperation and deepening military-to-military engagement between the two nations.

Key Developments

The meeting, part of Lieutenant General Conserva's official visit to India, brought together senior leadership from both air forces to explore avenues for stronger institutional ties. The IAF confirmed that discussions centred on 'issues of mutual interest and avenues to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and enhance military-to-military engagement.'

Earlier on the same day, Lieutenant General Conserva paid homage to India's fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in New Delhi — a gesture underscoring the ceremonial and diplomatic weight of the visit.

Backdrop: India-Italy Special Strategic Partnership

The air chiefs' meeting comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a two-day official visit to Italy, during which he held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella. A landmark outcome of that visit was the decision to elevate bilateral relations to the level of a Special Strategic Partnership.

Modi and Meloni agreed to hold annual leadership meetings — including on the sidelines of multilateral forums — and committed to regular ministerial and institutional-level engagements. The two leaders reviewed progress under the Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029, pledging to expand collaboration across trade, defence, science and technology, space, energy, artificial intelligence, and people-to-people ties.

Defence Industrial Cooperation

Notably, both prime ministers expressed satisfaction with the trajectory of defence cooperation, welcoming the signing of a Joint Declaration of Intent and an Industrial Roadmap for co-design, co-development, and co-production of defence products. Port visit exchanges and regular engagement of defence forces were also highlighted as markers of deepening ties.

This air force-level meeting directly operationalises the political momentum generated at the summit, translating high-level commitments into concrete military-to-military dialogue.

What Comes Next

The visit signals that India and Italy intend to move beyond diplomatic optics toward structured defence engagement. With the Special Strategic Partnership framework now in place, further joint exercises, technology-sharing discussions, and co-production initiatives are expected to follow in the months ahead.