Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India shifts defence strategy while balancing western ties and Russian legacy

At a time when Moscow’s military-industrial complex is occupied with the ongoing war in Ukraine, India has made the modernisation of its armed forces a top priority.

India shifts defence strategy while balancing western ties and Russian legacy

India produces some military hardware but still relies heavily on imports. The BrahMos missile system featured in India’s 76th Republic Day parade in New Delhi last Sunday (26)

INDIA’S efforts to pare back its reliance on Russian military hardware are bearing fruit after the courting of new Western allies and a rapidly growing domestic arms industry, analysts said.

At a time when Moscow’s military-industrial complex is occupied with the ongoing war in Ukraine, India has made the modernisation of its armed forces a top priority.


That urgency has risen in tandem with tensions between the world’s most populous nation and its northern neighbour China, especially since a deadly 2020 clash between their troops.

“India’s perception of its security environment vis-a-vis China has been dramatically altered,” Harsh V Pant, of the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank, said.

Relations between the neighbours went into freefall after the clash on their shared frontier, which killed 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers.

“It has sort of shaken the system and there’s a realisation that we have to do whatever is best now, and very fast,” Pant said of the incident.

India has become the world’s largest arms importer with purchases steadily rising to account for nearly 10 per cent of all imports globally in 2019-23, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said last year.

Workers clean communication equipment aboard INS Surat on January 11

More is in the pipeline, with orders worth tens of billions of dollars from the United States, France, Israel and Germany in coming years.

Modi will be in France next month where he is expected to sign deals worth about $10 billion (£8.03bn) for Rafale fighter jets and Scorpene-class submarines, Indian media reports say.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh has also promised at least $100bn (£80.3bn) in fresh domestic military hardware contracts by 2033 to spur local arms production.

“India has been traditionally an importer for decades and only switched to emphasising on indigenous manufacturing... in the last decade,” strategic affairs analyst Nitin Gokhale said.

“It is not easy to switch, not everything can be manufactured or produced here,” he said, saying the country lacked the ability to manufacture “highend technology” weapons systems.

But its efforts have still seen numerous impressive milestones.

This decade India has opened an expansive new helicopter factory, launched its first homemade aircraft carrier, and conducted a successful longrange hypersonic missile test. That in turn has fostered a growing arms export market which saw sales last year worth $2.63bn (£2.1bn) – still a tiny amount compared to established players, but a 30-fold increase in a decade.

India is expected in the coming weeks to announce a landmark deal to supply Indonesia’s military with supersonic cruise missiles in a deal worth nearly $450 million (£361.7m).

The government aims to treble this figure by 2029, with a significant chunk of the $75bn (£6.02bn) it spent on defence last year aimed at boosting local production and innovation.

India has deepened defence cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including in the much-feted Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia.

This reorientation has helped India sign various deals to import and locally co-produce military drones, naval ships, fighter jets and other hardware with suppliers from Western countries.

It has also led to a precipitous drop in India’s share of arms from longstanding ally Russia, which supplied 76 per cent of its military imports in 2009- 2013, but only 36 per cent in 2019-2023, according to SIPRI data.

New Delhi has nonetheless sought to maintain the delicate balance between India’s historically warm ties with Moscow while courting closer partnerships with Western nations.

Modi’s government has resisted pressure from Washington and elsewhere to explicitly condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead urging both sides to the negotiating table.

Gokhale said India was not in the position to abandon its relationship with Russia, which still plays an important role as a supplier of advanced weaponry including cruise missiles and nuclear submarine technology.

“India has certainly spread its risks by sourcing from other countries,” he said. “But Russia remains a very important and dependable partner.”

More For You

Modi arrives in Saudi Arabia to strengthen strategic ties

Prime minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (22)

Modi arrives in Saudi Arabia to strengthen strategic ties

INDIA’S prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah on Tuesday (22) for his third visit as prime minister to the oil-rich Gulf kingdom.

The trip came a day after Modi held talks with US vice-president JD Vance in India, with New Delhi looking to seal a trade deal with Washington and stave off punishing tariffs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Vinay Narwal

Lieutenant Vinay Narwal of the Indian Navy, 26, from Haryana, was among those killed in the attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam.

Photo: X/@indiannavy

Navy officer on honeymoon, grandfather vacationing with grandkids among 26 killed in Kashmir attack

LIEUTENANT Vinay Narwal of the Indian Navy had been married just six days earlier. He was on his honeymoon in Pahalgam when he was shot in the head by a terrorist while eating bhelpuri with his wife.

Manjunatha, a tourist from Karnataka, was asked if he was Hindu or Muslim before being shot dead.

Keep ReadingShow less
Who is Saifullah Kasuri, the  mastermind behind Pahalgam attack?

Saifullah Kasuri

Who is Saifullah Kasuri, the  mastermind behind Pahalgam attack?

THE tourist town of Pahalgam in India's Jammu and Kashmir witnessed one of the worst terror attacks in the region on Tuesday (22) since the abrogation of Article 370. A group of heavily armed terrorists opened fire on unsuspecting tourists at Baisaran meadow, killing 26 people and injuring many more.

The attack sent shockwaves across the country and drew condemnation from leaders both in India and abroad. Within hours, a group known as The Resistance Front (TRF), widely believed to be a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility.

Keep ReadingShow less
kashmir attack

Indian security forces personnel escort an ambulance carrying the bodies of tourists who were killed in the attack near Pahalgam, outside the police control room in Srinagar.

Reuters

India hunts gunmen as world condemns deadly Kashmir attack

INDIAN security forces launched a major search operation on Wednesday, a day after gunmen opened fire on tourists in Kashmir, killing 26 people. The attack was the deadliest on civilians in the region since 2000.

Prime minister Narendra Modi, who returned early from a state visit to Saudi Arabia, condemned the attack and said the attackers “will be brought to justice.”

Keep ReadingShow less
kashmir attack

Indian police officers stand guard at a check point following an attack, near Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Reuters

Gunmen open fire on tourists in Indian Kashmir, at least 24 dead

AT LEAST 24 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on tourists, a senior police officer told AFP. Authorities said it was the worst attack on civilians in years.

The shooting took place in Pahalgam, a popular summer tourist destination around 90 kilometres from Srinagar. A senior police officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the death toll.

Keep ReadingShow less