Using expensive Main Battle Tanks as protective shields is economically inefficient. Their value, if any, lies in offence, not in stationary protection.
India spends heavily on defence but does not finance it. That distinction separates mature defence-industrial economies from those trapped in yearly budget cycles.
Within the modern-day Samudra Manthan lies the opportunity for India to redefine its role on the world stage by building a robust, adaptive security architecture.
PTC Industries is investing Rs 1,000 cr in 4 manufacturing plants in UP, has already started supplying titanium parts to BAE Systems for its M-777 howitzers that India also uses.
SIPRI’s latest data on Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2024, shows China spent $314 bn on its military in 2024, India spent $86.1 bn, while Pakistan spent $10.2 bn.
Speaking at an event, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh also made a strong pitch for collaborative project between a foreign firm & Indian pvt player to produce fighter aircraft in India.
We are throwing money at imports while slipping behind competitors—China, certainly, but also Iran, South Korea, and Turkey—in technologies like stealth fighters, drones, and hypersonic missiles.
The once-dominant India-Russia defence relationship is waning. In its place, crude oil supplies have become the centrepiece of bilateral ties, signalling a fundamental shift.
India's defence industry now supplies to over 90 countries, with exports growing by more than 30 times in 10 years. Equipment exported is wide-ranging, from small arms to armoured vehicles.
Delivering a lecture for Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), Lt General P.R. Shankar (Retd) says while India did not require a rocket force, it certainly needed ‘integrated thinking and jointness’.
The collusion between the new class of bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and trade union bosses perpetuates itself partly because of the short-run benefits and partly because they see no way out of the system, wrote author MH Mody in 1980.
IAF is firming up plans to revamp airlift capabilities with medium transport aircraft that will be assembled in India & serve as its main workhorse. Embraer is leading contender as of now.
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