R-day to showcase India’s Defence export potential

India will display its military might on Republic Day this year with focus on growing capability to produce world class weapon systems, including Akash surface to air missile (SAM), Brahmos supersonic cruise missile and others.

Brahmos is the first successful joint venture between India and Russia to manufacture the world class supersonic missile.

It can hit a target at more than 290 kms and is already inducted into the Army and Navy.  The IAF some weeks back successfully carried out the aerial version of this missile and it now is ready to be fitted on the frontline SU-30 fighter jets.  With this, Brahmos has enabled the armed forces to enhance their capabilities for pin point strikes at enemy targets from land, sea and air.

As India prepares to celebrate its 69th Republic Day in a grand way this year with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking a bold initiative by inviting all 10 ASEAN heads of state as Chief Guests to grace the occasion, New Delhi is clearly sending out the message of reinforcing its “Act East” policy by strengthening its strategic ties with its Southeast Asian neighbours.

India, despite of its growing military might at the regional and global sphere, occupies the top spot when it comes to arms import. Ironically, while India rank  first in the world in defence imports with majority of the country’s top-of-the-line defence assets and platforms are  procured from foreign nations. However, under Modi’s flagship “Make In India” programme, India intends to reverse the trend and emerge as a leading supplier of defence equipment at the world stage.

While India has made its defence export ambitions quite clear with the Defence Ministry listing out some of the major military hardware which can be exported to foreign countries, including the BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile system, the Akash air defence system and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the lack of any clear-cut defence export policy by the Government coupled with bureaucratic hurdles has impeded the country’s defence export ambitions.

The home-grown Akash surface-to-air missile system and the world class Brahmos supersonic cruise missile system are some of the major defence hardware which are being sought after by some of the ASEAN countries whose heads of State are currently visiting New Delhi.

This is seen as a golden opportunity for India which is displaying these top-class defence assets at the Republic Day parade to make a fresh attempt and adopt a “top-to-bottom” approach towards defence exports.

Some of the countries which have strongly desired to acquire the Indian defence products include Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. All of the above countries have submitted written requests to the Government of India to acquire the Akash missile system and the Brahmos system.