New Zealand recently appointed its first resident defense advisor to India, highlighting the nations’ burgeoning partnership.
Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) Commodore Andy Dowling, who began his three-year posting to the New Zealand High Commission in late January 2026, noted India’s growing focus on defense collaboration and other strategic partnerships under its Act East Policy.
“We’re seeing the Act East with the Indian Navy in particular,” he stated. “They’re deploying out of the Indian Ocean, exercising with other countries and visiting New Zealand and Australia. They’re getting out and about and that’s only going to increase in the coming years.”
His role as New Zealand’s first full-time defense advisor to India “will allow us to understand their system better to identify and explore opportunities for our two nations to work together.”
Dowling noted similarities between the nations’ navies, including in air operations and refueling at sea.
“They have P-8 aircraft like us, they operate the MH-60 helicopter which we’re getting and they have the C-130J Hercules,” he said. “Their hydrographer training is similar; they operate a sea training group very like our Maritime Training Group. So, they have structures and capabilities that we recognize.”
Dowling’s appointment came a month after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a major free trade agreement and spotlighted progress in defense cooperation.
In the first half of 2025, as part of the United States-led multinational Combined Maritime Forces, the RNZN led a counternarcotics task force in the Western Indian Ocean, with the Indian Navy second in command. The Indian Navy frigate INS Tarkash seized more than 2,500 kilograms of hashish and heroin during the mission.
The RNZN frigate HMNZS Te Kaha visited Mumbai, India, during its task force deployment. The port call coincided with Luxon’s visit to India, which included talks with Modi and the signing of a defense cooperation agreement. The leaders “noted the need for ensuring the safety and security of sea lanes of communication,” India’s External Affairs Ministry stated.
“I reiterated New Zealand’s strong commitment to working with India to address shared concerns over our respective interests and contributions to ensure a strong, stable and prosperous region,” Luxon said.
Modi said the countries would enhance collaboration in areas including counterterrorism.
“We both support a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” he said. “We believe in policies of development, not expansionism.”
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