We're using quantity to compensate for quality, and India’s defence budget can't increase too much. Army has a chance to bring about long-term reforms.
China’s 2022 defence budget is over thrice the size of India’s spending. In 2021, China’s defence spending crossed $200 bn for the first time. This year, it’s up to $229.7 bn.
Many countries have announced defence budget hikes, with Germany ending decades-old freeze. But ambitions will have to be balanced with legacy of underspending, capacity issues.
A Group of Ministers, set up in 2000, after the Kargil conflict, had first recommended setting up “an apex body for the management of maritime affairs”.
Overall defence budget for 2022-23 stands at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.78 lakh crore in 2021-22. Defence budget is 13.3% of total expenditure planned by Centre for 2022-23.
Govt procedures that masquerade as safety nets for minimising financial loss can only stifle innovation. Modi govt's well-intentioned iDEX scheme seems headed that way.
Modi govt's capital budget allocation for 2021-22 is lower than the amount armed forces had sought in 2014-15. But spending more is not the answer, spending right is.
Over the last 10 years, the share of the defence budget spent on capital outlay has declined, from a high of 30% in 2011-12 to as low as 22% in 2018-19.
Ventures by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan illustrate how the race for REE security is accelerating, powered by both geopolitical tension and industrial strategy.
ThePrint had previously reported that India & Russia are talking about 5 more regiments of the S-400, but no contracts are to be signed during the Russian president's visit.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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