India and Tanzania have long maintained a defence cooperation framework, formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in October 2003, which anchors military-to-military collaboration, including training exchanges. A pivotal development came in December 2017, when India deployed an Indian Military Training Team (IMTT) to Tanzania’s Command and Staff College in Arusha (Duluti), providing advanced instruction to Tanzanian officers.
The first Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting took place in New Delhi on 15 January 2021, marking a renewed engagement between the countries. Its second iteration occurred on June 2023 in Arusha, where both parties endorsed a five-year roadmap to expand defence collaboration—covering training, maritime security, infrastructure development, technology sharing, and defence industry cooperation.
Air Force & Military Training Collaborations
- While much of Tanzania–India cooperation centers on land forces, training in air power contexts exists within broader defence capacity building. Tanzanian defence personnel routinely attend Indian military academies under India’s ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) and ICCR scholarship programmes—Tanzania receives around 600 ITEC and 85 ICCR training slots annually, covering fields from technical disciplines to defence studies.
- For aspects more closely related to air power, Tanzanian trainees participate in India’s UN peacekeeping training programmes, alongside officers undergoing strategic and staff courses at Indian institutions including the Air Force Academy (Hyderabad/Telangana), College of Air Warfare (Secunderabad), and TACDE (Gwalior)—though specific statistics on air force trainees remain undisclosed, the institutional linkages are consistent.
Mechanised Infantry & Cross-Service Training: A Model for Integration
- Though not air force-specific, Tanzania’s exposure to India’s Mechanised Infantry Centre & School (MIC&S) in Ahmednagar offers insights into the depth of bilateral training. A BMP‑2 training course for Tanzanian troops happened, demonstrating directionality and structure of Indian training modules.
- The sophistication of these cooperative efforts suggests analogous models could include aviation-oriented training to Tanzanian air force officers in Indian institutions going forward.
Maritime & Aerial Synergies: Expanding Regional Security Cooperation
- India–Tanzania training ties also intersect with maritime and aerospace domains through broader initiatives. The inaugural Africa‑India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) exercise, co‑hosted with the Tanzanian People’s Defence Forces in Dar es Salaam, brought together several African navies and the Indian Navy for anti‑piracy, search-and-rescue, and helicopter operations—a platform that naturally involves air assets in maritime contexts.
- Meanwhile, India deployed naval attaches to Tanzania (as well as army and air defence attaches to other African countries), indicating growing cross‑service engagement that lays groundwork for air force attachés and related training liaisons. Tanzanian officials have noted India’s deployment of air attachés to nearby African states, further opening avenues for air force collaboration.
Strategic Outlook: Air Force Training as Next Frontier
- India and Tanzania have expressed ambition to elevate their strategic partnership—agreed during Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to India in October 2023—calling for deeper defence ties encompassing hardware transfers, industry cooperation, and capacity building.
- With rising focus on maritime security in the western Indian Ocean, air surveillance and air-sea coordination become paramount. As Indian institutions specialize in air power training, it is plausible that Tanzanian Air Force officers will increasingly attend Indian air academies, tactical courses, operational staff training, and exchange programmes in coming years.
