India Clears $700 Million Defense Purchase

[Scorpion]

India Clears $700 Million Defense Purchase



NEW DELHI – India’s defense ministry cleared Wednesday proposals worth nearly $700 million to buy military equipment but deferred a key multi-billion dollar decision on replacing the country’s aging air transport fleet.

India, the world’s largest buyer of weapons, is in the midst of revamping its aging military equipment and recently lifted a cap on foreign investment in defense.

The country has been keen to move ahead with defense orders amid a string of new border skirmishes with arch-rival Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region and an increasingly assertive China.

The deals included the purchase of four helicopters for survey vessels and upgrading the nation’s electronic warfare system, a defence ministry spokesman told reporters.

“The defense acquisition council has also cleared a proposal relating to purchase of a platform system for transporting military equipment,” he said.

The proposals cleared were worth 44.4 billion rupees ($696 million), the ministry official added.

The defence council, which approves big military procurements, deferred a decision on a joint bid by European giant Airbus Defence and Space and India’s Tata Advanced Systems Ltd to supply the Airbus C295 medium transport aircraft.

The C295s are meant to replace the Indian Air Force’s fleet of 56 Avro aircraft valued at $3 billion.

According to the proposal, 16 twin-turboprop tactical military aircraft would be supplied in fly-away condition by Airbus and the remaining 40 would be assembled by Tata in southern Hyderabad as part of a technology transfer.

India Clears $700 Million Defense Purchase

 

[kittyworker]

Firstly I'm surprised and not surprised that India is the world's largest buyer of weapon. Firstly there have been quite peaceful times (comparably) along their borders. However India must always be aware of the threat along their borders and being the fast moving economy it is I'm not surprised that they have sank a bit of money into securing their nation.

 

[weepforsweep]

It seems they know how ISIS is a threat to them. I hope they can prevent as many deaths from ISIS as possible.

 

[d4rk3n]

Good to see India strengthening up.
I am surprised too, to see India as the buyer of most weapons
But I think they need it.
There is chaos almost all the time in the Border. And its quite sad to see the news of death of soldiers everyday

 

[xTinx]

Compared to China, India's slowly, surely but humbly building up its military strength. There's not much fuss on their end. Why can't China be as subtle and non-imposing as India? If they continue to be that arrogant, they'll reveal everything to the enemy enough for the latter to prepare an efficient counter-attack. Anyway, although I understand India's need for spending so much on military defence, they would do well to prioritize the problems with their neighbour Pakistan. Rather than use the military to threaten this impertinent neighbour, they might as well use diplomacy. There's a bigger enemy out there and it's not Pakistan.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Sounds like 700 million is small change to a country like India. There are probably other purchases which were not reported in the media. It would be interesting to know how many firearms are in the hands of private citizens in India.

 

[d4rk3n]

Compared to China, India's slowly, surely but humbly building up its military strength. There's not much fuss on their end. Why can't China be as subtle and non-imposing as India? If they continue to be that arrogant, they'll reveal everything to the enemy enough for the latter to prepare an efficient counter-attack. Anyway, although I understand India's need for spending so much on military defence, they would do well to prioritize the problems with their neighbour Pakistan. Rather than use the military to threaten this impertinent neighbour, they might as well use diplomacy. There's a bigger enemy out there and it's not Pakistan.

I think India has already tried negotiating with Pakistan more than once in the past, but it seems like there can't be peace between these two nations.
They must pull their things together and try to negotiate though. No one wants a war.
But the peace treaty between the borders isn't going so well, as we can see.