Defence Analyst Raises Concerns as India Retains Position as Leading Global Arms Importer

Defense News ,India :- India faces a tricky problem when it comes to its defense plans. C Uday Bhaskar, who leads the Society for Policy Studies, thinks so. He points out that even though India has been making great strides in technology, it still relies heavily on buying weapons from other countries.

Recently, India successfully tested something called a Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV). It's a big deal in the world of defense. But at the same time, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that India's arms imports went up by 4.7 percent between 2014-18 and 2019-23.

This report confirms what SIPRI found in 2023: India is the top buyer of weapons globally. From 2018 to 2022, India bought a whopping 11 percent of all arms sold worldwide. It's been in this top spot since 1993, which is quite a long time.

These findings clash with what the Indian government says about wanting to make its own weapons. Leaders like Defense Minister Rajnath Singh talk about how India is moving towards making its own arms and even selling them to other countries. But the SIPRI data doesn't match up with this vision.

So, why is it that India is doing well in some tech areas, like missiles, but struggling to make other weapons on its own? Sure, there's been some improvement in things like surveillance and communication gear, but overall, the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) hasn't had consistent success.

This shows that India's defense issues are pretty complicated. Yes, it's great that India can make impressive things like missiles, but it's still too reliant on buying weapons from abroad. To truly stand on its own feet, India needs to put more effort into research and development, make its own weapons more efficiently, and encourage new ideas in the defense industry.

Celebrating India's technological victories is important, but it's also crucial to face the truth about relying on foreign weapons. Real independence in defense will only come with hard work and a careful rethink of India's defense strategy.