Trump's Russian arms import jibe fires blanks
Despite President Trump's concerns, India has significantly decreased its reliance on Russian arms imports over the last decade. Domestic arms production has surged, while deals with the US, Israel, and France have increased. India has also abandoned joint development projects with Russia, opting for diversification and advanced technology, particularly through collaborations with the United States.
AP President Donald Trump US President Donald Trump flagged import of Russian weapons by India as he announced a publishing tariff rate but numbers clearly show that New Delhi has been drastically cutting its reliance on Moscow in the past decade and has even walked away from major deals, including joint development of fifth generation fighter jets and transport aircraft.Over the past decade, India's import bill from Russia for arms has steadily come down - with Russia accounting for 72 percent of imports in 2010-14 to just about 36 percent in 2020-2024. At the same time, domestic production of arms has gone up sharply, with a 174 percent jump since 2014 as several private sector entities have entered the market.The cutting down of Russian weapons imports has also benefitted countries like the US, Israel and France as their exports to India have increased. The US in particular has managed several big ticket sales to India, including MQ9B drones, P8I maritime aircraft and the Apache and Chinook helicopters.In fact, the last deal for a major new Russian weapon system was signed in 2019 for the production of AK 203 assault rifles in India. The $680 million contract is however dwarfed by orders to American entities like General Dynamics which got orders for drones worth $3.9 billion in October last year and General Electric (GE) that got engine orders worth $ 720 million in 2021.India has also over the past decade walked away from several major co development projects with Russia, as it looked to diversify suppliers and get access to cutting edge technology. This includes the joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft and a new generation Medium Transport Aircraft. Yet another plan to co produce a light helicopter has also been put in cold storage.
On the other hand, joint development efforts with the US are on the rise under initiatives like the INDUS X and ICET that have identified several areas like maritime domain awareness, space and autonomous systems as priority areas.
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