The Armed Forces of India are going on the route or arming themselves with own home made indigenous weapons and warheads. Some of them are released successfully (Tejas (LCA), Agni missiles, INS Cochin etc), while some of them are under construction like LCH, AMCA and others.
Coming to the point, it is seen that the indigenous manufactured warheads are not purely indigenous i.e. many parts of them are imported from foreign superpowers. Talking about the recently released LCA Tejas, which is made to replace the entire Mig-21 force, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the jet contains about 40% of foreign material. While the main battle tank, Arjun has got 55% of its material from foreign players. The Indian army has inducted 124 MTBs and has also ordered 100 new generation tanks. The tank has got some weight issues and delays in manufacturing like LCA project. Some other projects of DRDO that have got significant foreign assistance are Nag missile – 30%, Airborne Early Warning & Control System – 16%, Free Fall Combat System – 35%, Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket System – 10% , Prithvi And Agni Missiles – 15%.
The weapons made with the collaboration with other nations also has more material from the co-partnering nation. BRAHMOS has got 65% of its material from Russia. While LRSAM has about 60% material form Israel. India’s contribution in both the projects is less than half.
Well, India is also adjusting its place in the field of arms exporters. India has stepped forward in exporting BRAHMOS missile to Vietnam, which has become a good friend of India after Vietnam came into deal of 11 oil blocks with India. South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia and Chile are also preferring to buy this missile. While UAE, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia have shown their interest in it. The deal is very close to be sealed, but there is no clarification made over Russia’s clearance in this deal. Some allegations of exporting plans of Tejas are also reported from sources. The jet is recently inducted into IAF after long awaited delay. Further exports will be based on the performance of the jet. The jet has been made to make it best of its kind, but still some shortcomings are there. The jet is good for dog fights, but not for deep penetrations. Factually, India’s arms export just counts about 4% of the arms, ammunition and equipment’s imported by the India. In 2014, India exported Barracuda offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius. It was India’s first warship export to Mauritius. Previously, India has gifted some ships to small nations like Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius etc.
The export of weapons is expected to increase in the future with the hike in deep international relations with small and worthy nations. Moreover, the growing relations with Vietnam seems to become an issue between India and China as Vietnam is truce with China over the issue of South China Sea. Well, the exchange of weapons is necessary for India in order to stabilize its military power and for self-preparedness for quick action and response.
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