India is the world's biggest arms buyer

[ejazr]

India 'world's biggest arms buyer'

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/201131464110211223.html

India has overtaken China to become the world's largest importer of weapons, according to a Swedish think-tank that monitors global arms sales.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report said India was pushing ahead with plans to modernise its military in an effort to counter China's influence and gain international clout.

India's defence budget for the coming year is 1.5 trillion rupees ($32.5bn), a 40 per cent increase from two years ago. It imports more than 70 per cent of its weapons.

The report said the vast majority of those imports – 82 per cent – come from Russia, which has long been India's supplier of choice.

Its investment comes amid rising concerns about China's regional power and its designs over vital Indian Ocean shipping lanes, which New Delhi sees as part of its sphere of influence.

The government is reportedly spending billions of dollars on fighter jets and aircraft carriers to modernise its air force and navy.

Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow at the institute, said on Monday China dropped to second place with six per cent of global imports as it continued to build up its domestic arms industry, something India has so far failed to do.

"Just from what they have already ordered, we know that in the coming few years India will be the top importer," he added.

Weapons club

On the dealers' side, the United States remains the largest arms exporter, followed by Russia and Germany, according to the report.

The Swedish institute measures arms transactions over a five-year period to take into account the long time lag between orders and delivery of arms.

There are lingering tensions over unresolved border issues between India and China, which led to war in 1962.

India also remains in its traditional faceoff with neighbouring Pakistan, with which it has fought three wars.

"India has ambitions to become first a continental and [then] a regional power," Rahul Bedi, a South Asia analyst with London-based Jane's Defence Weekly, told The Associated Press. "To become a big boy, you need to project your power."

India is expected to spend $80bn over the next decade to upgrade its military.

Besides Russia, other countries pushing for a chunk of the lucrative market include Britain, the United States and France who have finalised deals worth billions of dollars for trainer and fighter jets, transport aircraft, an aircraft carrier and submarines.

"The kind of purchases that India is buying, no country in the world buys," added Bedi of Jane's Defence Weekly. "What is in the pipeline is huge."

 

[ejazr]

The SIPRI fact sheet for major arms deals including major suppliers and recipients. Gives a good birds eye view of who is buying and selling arms

http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1103.pdf

 

[LurkerBaba]

The SIPRI fact sheet for major arms deals including major suppliers and recipients. Gives a good birds eye view of who is buying and selling arms

http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1103.pdf

From the pdf

China's position is a surprise

 

[Tshering22]

^^ I won't be proud of that table to be honest. We really don't need to be top on this table and instead, should be focusing on tables like "region's largest arms PRODUCER". That would not only generate millions of jobs, but also strengthen our indigenous capabilities. Speaking of that table, I thought Israel is rank 2 in our supplier's list after Russians. How come UK is being seen all of a sudden?

 

[Nonynon]

Just read the news myself. Russia looks like its making a fortune, i think there the main winners here.
But still, congratulations.
I'm just surprised to see Greece over there and were Britain is I expected to see USA.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

From the pdf

China's position is a surprise

This is strange France is not in the top 3 and UK is 2nd for suppliers to India??

 

[plugwater]

From the pdf

China's position is a surprise

I really doubt this figures. Just 2 years back Israel replaced Russia as the no1 supplier for India. So the ratio between Russia and Israel should be close, Not 82% to 3%!

And what the hell is France selling to China ?

 

[no smoking]

And what the hell is France selling to China ?

Electronics, key parts and TECHNOLOGIES

 

[roma]

^^ I won't be proud of that table to be honest. We really don't need to be top on this table and instead, should be focusing on tables like "region's largest arms PRODUCER". That would not only generate millions of jobs, but also strengthen our indigenous capabilities. Speaking of that table, I thought Israel is rank 2 in our supplier's list after Russians. How come UK is being seen all of a sudden?

of course i agree - and i believe that is on the cards before too long - that is about your (our) concern that india should and is capable even now of producing .

regarding britain being #2 it is the ususal diplomacy in consideration for our dearly beloved and very precious brothers who would be irked by the other one.

 

[Rage]

A position of shame, in my books. Shows us two things: i) the factionalism between the Armed forces and the Defense PSU's; ii) the progress of our 'indigenous' defense program.

We can't even get a bloody rifle working satisfactorily. No, no don't tell me how YOU have found the INSAS to be working satisfactorily in your experience, when there are dozens of others have not. Swallow your pride; and accept our failings.

 

[bovor]

now we have completely denfence industry we don't need more russian weapon in furture INDIA please buy more

 

[amitkriit]

A position of shame, in my books. Shows us two things: i) the factionalism between the Armed forces and the Defense PSU's; ii) the progress of our 'indigenous' defense program.

We can't even get a bloody rifle working satisfactorily. No, no don't tell me how YOU have found the INSAS to be working satisfactorily in your experience, when there are dozens of others have not. Swallow your pride; and accept our failings.

Problem with our defense PSUs is that they try to push their own ideas/solutions down defense forces' throat, without giving any consideration to our soldiers' real needs.
Problem with our defense forces is that those responsible for procurement have a romantic attachment with foreign suppliers, particularly Russians, one of the reasons might be that foreign suppliers give more financial incentive(read kickbacks).

 

[Singh]

Indian Acquisitions Explode On Land, In Air but major hurdles in fructifying them

We need a full defence policy overhaul


====


Filled with military deals harvested over the past few years, the Indian defense pie is getting bigger and sweeter, on land and in the air. But the country faces major hurdles in making those plans real.

First, the good news: Over the next five years, India plans to renovate or replace its Soviet-era kit with $50 billion in new equipment, making Asia's third largest economy a lucrative market for foreign companies such as Boeing and Dassault.

Despite losing out on the roughly $11 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program for the Indian air force (IAF), Boeing expects $32 billion in opportunities in India over the next decade. "We see handsome opportunity for growth; not just to be able to sell and market our platforms but to be able to create true partnerships," Dennis Swanson, international business development vice president for Boeing Defense, Space & Security in India, told DTI in an exclusive interview.

India chose Dassault Rafale to supply the 126-strong MMRCA, although a final agreement is months away and rivals like Boeing are waiting to see if it falls apart. India has several more large programs in the pipeline and the government's order book is getting thicker with an eye toward the modernization efforts of nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and China. Indian defense capital expenditures, for military hardware and technology, grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.57% from 2005 to 2010. Expenditures are expected to achieve a CAGR of 13.08% during the next five years.

According to a KPMG study, India plans to spend $80 billion for acquiring new equipment in the next five years. Plans call for the IAF to have more than 1,000 fighter aircraft and nearly 60 squadrons by 2030. The country has allocated 1.64 trillion rupees ($33.3 billion) for the defense sector this fiscal year through March, up from 1.47 trillion rupees last year. The budget is nearly double the 890 billion rupees in 2006-07.

The Indian government approved new regulations in February that will allow state-run defense firms to form joint ventures (JVs) with private companies, both local and overseas. The new rules follow the Defense Production Policy released in January 2011, and are aimed at fostering national industry's ability to produce modern, globally competitive defense products. Besides JVs, the policy allows the formation of consortia and public-private partnerships within the government-approved framework, but also includes provisions for the exit of the state-run defense companies from deals.

Not surprisingly, global defense and aerospace companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Eurofighter have set up operations in India, including partnerships with private companies. Alliances help the companies meet government offset policies under which companies receiving defense-related contracts in excess of 3 billion rupees have to reinvest nearly 30% of the sum in India. Nationwide, there are currently about $10 billion worth of offset contracts in the pipeline.

The global companies also seek to use their alliances with Indian firms to add low-cost engineering and manufacturing capabilities for their global operations.

However, India is desperate to improve its own capabilities. In a parliamentary report on defense acquisitions, India's comptroller and auditor general slammed the country's armed forces and defense ministry for causing "inordinate delays" in procuring artillery guns for more than a decade, leaving troops with an assortment of 1970s-vintage weapons.

Pointing to discussions about the acquisition of 700 new artillery pieces that have dragged on for the past two decades, the report said that procurement of the guns still was not in the "foreseeable future." The army has expressed a willingness to procure several gun types, including a U.S. foreign military sale for 145 155-mm, 39-caliber ultra-light howitzers from BAE Systems. Efforts to buy these guns began two years ago. The army also has been trying to procure 400 155-mm, 52-caliber towed artillery guns, and more than 140 wheeled and tracked self-propelled howitzers from global vendors.

§

Beyond major primes, the robust defense growth is pulling in foreign second-level contractors and leading companies from the domestic private sector. India's Hinduja Group is poised to enter the defense and homeland security hardware manufacturing sector. Ashok Leyland Defense Systems, floated in 2008 by Hinduja, has applied for a Foreign Investment Promotion Board license to manufacture and maintain guns, rockets and missile artillery systems. The company said it would invest $2 million in a manufacturing facility, with a second phase of $10 million.

In March 2011, Ashok announced advanced talks with Chemring Group of the U.K. to establish a defense JV. Chemring, which makes munitions and provides electronic warfare, pyrotechnics and end-of-life ordnance destruction, is an existing supplier to India.

In 2010, Ashok signed an agreement with South African defense systems manufacturer Paramount Group to manufacture mine-protected armored vehicles at a joint assembly plant in India. The vehicle, dubbed Stallion, would combine elements of two Paramount mine-resistant vehicles, the Marauder and the Matador, with Ashok's low-cost four-wheel-drive running gear and engine.

The Indian army plans to induct about 250 indigenously built main battle tanks and about 1,650 Russian T-90 tanks by 2020. It also plans to obtain 114 Light Combat Helicopters from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and shares a joint requirement for about 400 light helicopters with the air force. HAL is working on 159 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and focusing on producing a fully armed and sensor-equipped ALH for the army.

Another modernization program worth watching is Future Infantry Soldier As a System (F-INSAS), which is expected to be completed by 2020. The first phase is likely to cost more than $5 billion, considering the 1.13-million-person army. F-INSAS is divided into five sub-systems: modular weapons; body armor and individual equipment; weapon sights and hand-held target acquisition devices; communications equipment for complex voice, data and video systems; and portable computers in the shape of wrist displays for soldiers and planning boards for commanders.

A global tender for direct acquisition of around 66,000 advanced assault rifles was floated in November 2011, to be followed by licensed manufacturing to equip the armed forces and 800,000 paramilitary force troops. The army further is planning to buy tripod-mounted 12.7-mm heavy machine guns to boost the firepower of its infantry battalions.

Also in November, India's defense ministry approved a massive military modernization program that includes a comprehensive overhaul and upgrade of the army's firepower. The revamp, pegged at about $12 billion, is awaiting the finance ministry's approval and will be put before the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval and financial sanction, a senior army official told DTI.

The plan includes standing up four new army divisions, two of which would form part of the Mountain Strike Corps for offensive operations. The other two would be independent brigades, one in the Himalayan region of Ladakh bordering China and another in the small northern state of Uttarakhand. Once completed, it would be the Indian army's biggest expansion along the India-China border since 1962, when the two countries fought a brief but bloody border war.

India has been adding infrastructure such as roads and military airfields close to the China border. The army raised two mountain divisions in the northeast, and three forward landing fields have opened in Daulat Beg Oldi, Fuk Che and Nyoma, all in the last three years.

In addition, India's Defense Research and Development Organization hopes to test the Agni V nuclear-capable, long-range ballistic missile this year. It will be India's first strategic missile with a rocket motor case built from composites, unlike the heavier metal construction used in earlier Agni missiles. Scientists at DRDO say the missile should be in service by 2014.

The Agni V's range—in excess of 5,000 km (3,100 mi.)—represents a significant step forward in India's strategic weapons arsenal. China has intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach any part of India, with a range of more than 11,000 km.

"The Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean," U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the U.S. Senate last month. But India's deputy defense minister, M.M. Pallam Raju, said there was no need for alarm concerning China's military infrastructure along the borders, as there was "no tension" between the countries on the borders.

Ajay Lele, a former Indian air force wing commander who currently works with the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, told DTI that the current modernization proposal is not China-centric. "India has been trying to modernize its military infrastructure for years and this had to happen at some point."

Indian Acquisitions Explode On Land, In Air | AVIATION WEEK

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India is the world's biggest arms buyer | Mail Online


India has become the world's biggest importer of arms, displacing China by accounting for 10 per cent of global arms sales volumes.
Over the past five years, India's imports of major weapons increased by 38 per cent between 2007 and 2011, a Swedish security think tank said with Asia topping other regions in arms imports.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its new report said India was closely followed by China and Pakistan whose weapons imports constituted 5 per cent each of global sales.
Pakistan took delivery of significant numbers of combat aircrafts during this period: 50 JF- 17s from China and 30 F-16s from US, SIPRI said. SIPRI said China is now world's sixth largest world exporter of weapons behind the US, Russia, Germany, France and the UK.


Read more: India is the world's biggest arms buyer | Mail Online

 

[W.G.Ewald]

U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Capitalize on Rising Demand in Asia - Blog

U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Capitalize on Rising Demand in Asia

The five largest arms importers over the past five years — India, South Korea, Pakistan, China and Singapore — now account for 30 percent of global sales. The growing arms race in Asia could be a boon for U.S. suppliers of military hardware, according the newly released annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Did we surpass Saudis..

 

[nimo_cn]

Why Has India Become the World's Top Arms Buyer? - NYTimes.com


Why Has India Become the World's Top Arms Buyer?
By HARI KUMAR

Manish Swarup/Associated Press
Defense Minister A.K. Antony poses with senior defense officials, in front of a Mi-17 V5 military utility transport helicopter from Russia, in New Delhi, Feb. 17, 2012.India has replaced China as the world's largest arms buyer, accounting for 10 percent of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said.

India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80 percent of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). China's arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78 percent of which came from Russia.

India has tried, but failed, to create a sizable domestic manufacturing industry for weapons or even basic military goods, while China has increased production of defense supplies. About 75 percent of India's weapons purchases came from imports during 2007-11, said Laxman Kumar Behra of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, a government-funded research organization.
Some analysts in India attribute the failure to create a domestic defense industry to government involvement. "India's public sector is very inefficient and the private sector is by and large kept out of arms production," Mr. Behra said.

"We lack long-term vision," and a culture of research and development, Mr. Behra said. "The government keeps on forming one committee after the other but there is hardly any implementation" of the committee's recommendations, he said.

In a recent article in The Economic Times, Uday Bhaskar, a retired commodore and leading strategic analyst, also criticized India's weapons procurement policy.

"More than 60 years after becoming a republic and 50 years after the debacle with China, the opaque Indian defense production establishment does not produce high quality clothing and personal inventory items like boots, let alone a suitable rifle for a one million army, or tanks and aircraft."

Russia, the world's No. 2 weapons supplier in recent years after the United States, sold $7.8 billion in defense supplies in 2011, and $40.8 billion from 2005 to 2011. India bought about one-third of the supplies.

India's dependence on Russia is a holdover from the Cold War era, when the two were close allies.

South Korea was the second-largest arms importer from 2007 to 2011, with $7 billion in purchases. Pakistan and China followed, each accounting for about 5 percent of the world's total arms import during the five-year period, SIPRI said.

India's import of major weapons increased by 38 percent from the 2002-2006 period to the 2007-2011 period. India's main acquisitions over the past five years were 120 Sukhoi and 16 MiG-29 jet fighter aircraft from Russia and 20 Anglo-French Jaguar fighters.

India recently finalized a deal for 126 multi-role fighter aircraft with French defense contractor Rafael, in a deal worth $10 billion.

.

 

[Ray]

The reason why India has become the top arms importer is because what should have been done in a phased manner, having been blocked by bureaucratic and political lethargy has suddenly become evident it cannot be delayed any further given the threats developing.

Even so, there are many departments where the military is still woefully inadequate.

 

[JAYRAM]

Why Has India Become the World's Top Arms Buyer?: NYTimes

By HARI KUMAR

India has replaced China as the world's largest arms buyer, accounting for 10 percent of all arms purchases during the past five years, a Swedish research group said.

India purchased some $12.7 billion in arms, 80 percent of that from Russia, during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). China's arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78 percent of which came from Russia.

India has tried, but failed, to create a sizable domestic manufacturing industry for weapons or even basic military goods, while China has increased production of defense supplies. About 75 percent of India's weapons purchases came from imports during 2007-11, said Laxman Kumar Behra of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, a government-funded research organization.

Some analysts in India attribute the failure to create a domestic defense industry to government involvement. "India's public sector is very inefficient and the private sector is by and large kept out of arms production," Mr. Behra said.

"We lack long-term vision," and a culture of research and development, Mr. Behra said. "The government keeps on forming one committee after the other but there is hardly any implementation" of the committee's recommendations, he said.

In a recent article in The Economic Times, Uday Bhaskar, a retired commodore and leading strategic analyst, also criticized India's weapons procurement policy.

"More than 60 years after becoming a republic and 50 years after the debacle with China, the opaque Indian defense production establishment does not produce high quality clothing and personal inventory items like boots, let alone a suitable rifle for a one million army, or tanks and aircraft."

Russia, the world's No. 2 weapons supplier in recent years after the United States, sold $7.8 billion in defense supplies in 2011, and $40.8 billion from 2005 to 2011. India bought about one-third of the supplies.

India's dependence on Russia is a holdover from the Cold War era, when the two were close allies.

South Korea was the second-largest arms importer from 2007 to 2011, with $7 billion in purchases. Pakistan and China followed, each accounting for about 5 percent of the world's total arms import during the five-year period, SIPRI said.

India's import of major weapons increased by 38 percent from the 2002-2006 period to the 2007-2011 period. India's main acquisitions over the past five years were 120 Sukhoi and 16 MiG-29 jet fighter aircraft from Russia and 20 Anglo-French Jaguar fighters.

India recently finalized a deal for 126 multi-role fighter aircraft with French defense contractor Rafael, in a deal worth $10 billion.



Why Has India Become the World's Top Arms Buyer? - NYTimes.com

 

[Blackwater]

becoz DRDO has failed to deliver in time.simple

and sarkari babus has done the rest what ever left