With nations, including the US and UK, effecting defence budget cuts,
India will emerge as the world’s biggest market for weapons over the
next two decades. And vying for a share of the pie will be Russian,
American, Israeli, French and British firms.
Despite forays by the
Americans and Israelis into the Indian defence market with Rs 40,000
crore and Rs 50,000 crore worth of supplies respectively, Russia still
bags a major chunk of orders with over Rs 4 lakh crore supplies made
since the beginning of this century.
According to senior defence
officers, including Indian Air Force (IAF) Director General (Inspection
and Safety) Air Marshal P P Reddy, the force could be spending close to
Rs 9 lakh crore in the next 15 years.
The news has come as a major
boost to global arms companies that have been scrambling for orders
following the cuts in domestic procurements in their respective
countries.
The Indian phenomenon has been validated by the
Stockholm-based think-tank, SIPRI, which has listed India as the world’s
top arms importer for three years in a row now, on the basis of
purchases made over the previous five years.
The Indian armed
forces’ buying spree over the next two decades will be dictated by its
desire to emerge as a modern military, plugging yawning gaps in its
present capabilities.
It is also driven by the need to catch up
with neighbour China, a possible adversary up north that has powered
ahead with its own military modernisation drive on the strength of its
booming economy.
Fortunately for India, its defence budget has
been steadily increasing, with the 2013-14 budget crossing Rs 2.04 lakh
crore, of which over Rs 86,741 crore was earmarked for capital
expenditure.
Among the biggest of purchases that is waiting to
happen in India is the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA),
described as the ‘mother of all deals’, estimated to be worth Rs 1 lakh
crore.
Key to bolstering the IAF’s falling fighter aircraft
squadron numbers, the 126 planes would add to the 20-tonne category of
planes in the IAF fleet, bringing in the needed balance in the fleet of
12-tonne Light Combat Aircraft and 25-tonne Sukhois.
IAF will also
spend another `2 lakh crore on buying 300 Fifth Generation Fighter
Aircraft (FGFA), jointly developed by India and Russia, from the middle
of next decade.
With nearly 650 combat jets in the fleet, the IAF
at present has 34 of the sanctioned 42 squadrons operational, but this
will go down further in the next decade due to phasing out of the
250-odd MiG-series combat planes from the fleet, before it grows again
and reaches optimal levels after 2030. China, on the other hand, has
over 1,600 combat planes in its fleet, while Pakistan has only about
450.
Among the more critical gaps that India intends to plug is
the one in its conventional submarine fleet. At present, the Indian Navy
is saddled with an aging fleet of 13 submarines of which nine are the
Russian Kilo class and rest are the German HDW Type 209 class.
The
six Project 75 Scorpene submarines under construction in the
Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks is delayed by over three years now and will
be inducted beginning 2018 at a revised cost of `23,562 crore, nearly a
`5,000 crore increase from the originally approved Rs 18,798 crore. This
has resulted in the late 1990s plan of having 24 new submarines before
2030 going for a toss.
Only now, the Indian Navy has got clearance
from the government to issue a Rs 50,000-crore tender for six new
conventional diesel-electric submarines, under a project named 75I.
China,
on the other hand, has over 60 conventional submarines and 10
nuclear-powered submarines, whereas India is only now building its first
nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, and intends to have two more in
the next decade or so.
These apart, the Navy already has 42
warships of various types—Destroyers, Frigates, Corvettes and Mine
Sweepers—on order with Indian shipyards, including the 45,000-tonne
Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant, which is likely to be ready by
2018. Two more of the Vikrant-class will be built over the next decade
or so, while the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya, for which `12,000 crore
has been paid by India, will join the Indian fleet in a week.
Among
the other purchases lined up by the armed forces are 22 attack
helicopters for Rs 7,500 crore, 15 heavy cargo helicopters for Rs 5,000
crore, 16 naval multi-role helicopters for Rs 5,000 crore, 384 light
utility helicopters, 45 medium transport aircraft that could cost Rs
20,000 crore, several unmanned aerial vehicles, and many more.
