India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) on Maritime Security Cooperation on 20 August 2026. It covers Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), information sharing, Search and Rescue (SAR), Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and protecting Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs). The two sides will step up naval exercises, port calls, logistics, ship repair and shipbuilding, with more use of Indian shipyards under Make in India. DRDO and Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) will widen defence technology cooperation; UNICORN is their first defence equipment transfer project. They also reaffirmed a free and open Indo-Pacific and exercises such as Dharma Guardian, JAIMEX and Veer Guardian 26.