The back-to-back visits to India last month by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of that country’s military-industrial complex, demonstrate the heightened competition for India’s defense import market, currently the largest in the world.
India has been the leading global arms importer in recent years, with its weapons purchases totaling $12.7 billion from 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Over that period, 80 percent of India’s defense imports came from Russia, making New Delhi the leading purchaser of Russian arms. But Russian officials fear that various recurring problems will displace Russian defense contractors from their dominant position in the Indian market.
When it comes to major weapons systems such as submarines, tanks and combat aircraft, Indian defense firms have found it difficult to transition from the development of successful prototypes to serial production. As a result, India still purchases most of its advanced military systems from foreign sources, especially Russian companies, with two-thirds of its defense procurement budget spent on foreign-supplied weapons and services.