Armenia among top three buyers of India defense weapons 

ArmInfo. With India shedding its hesitations in exporting lethal arms to other countries, Armenia  has emerged as its biggest client of 'finished' weapon systems like Akash air defense missile systems, Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems and 155mm artillery guns, among others.

The US, France and Armenia ranked as the top three destinations for  defense exports by India, which chalked up military sales worth Rs  21,083 crore ($2.6 billion) to other countries in 2023-24, official  sources said on Sunday.

Indian public and private sector companies are now exporting a wide  range of arms, ammunition and fuses to around 100 countries, which  also include some complete weapon systems and platforms like BrahMos  supersonic cruise missiles, Dornier-228 aircraft, artillery guns,  radars, Akash missiles , Pinaka rockets, and armored vehicles, the  sources added.

The exports to the US, however, mainly consist of sub-systems and  components, which include global defense majors like Boeing and  Lockheed Martin sourcing fuselage, wings, and other parts of aircraft  and helicopters from India as part of their global supply chain  networks as well as offset commitments.

The former Soviet Republic of Armenia, on its part, has inked a  flurry of deals with India over the last four years for import of  'finished products' like missiles, artillery guns, rocket systems,  weapon-locating radars, bullet-proof vests, and night-vision  equipment as well as a wide variety of ammunition and artillery  shells.  Some of these deals were inked even during Armenia's clash  with Azerbaijan - which has close ties with Turkey and Pakistan -  over Nagorno-Karabakh, as reported by TOI earlier.

  Armenia has become the first foreign customer for the  indigenously-developed Akash air defence missiles, which have an  interception range of 25 km, while other countries like Brazil are  even keen on co- production and co-development of advanced versions  of the system. "Brazil wants an inter-governmental agreement on  it:talks are underway," another source said.

  Similarly, after India clinched the $375-million contract in Jan 2022  for the export of three BrahMos anti- ship coastal missile batteries  to the Philippines, other Asean countries as well as some Gulf  nations are increasingly showing interest in acquiring the  precision-strike missiles that India has co-developed with Russia.

  India, of course, continues to remain in the strategically-vulnerable  position of being the world's largest arms importer, accounting for  9.8% of the total global imports in the 2019-2023 time-frame.

  The country, however, is now progressively expanding its domestic  defence-industrial base (DIB) and banning import of some weapon  systems under the drive for 'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance) or 'Make  in India', while aggressively pushing arms exports.

  With India's annual defence production reaching a record high of Rs  1.2 lakh crore in 2023-24, the govt has set an ambitious target for  it to touch Rs 3 lakh crore by 2028-29, along with arms exports of Rs  50,000 crore.

  India's defence-industrial base, apart from the 16 defence PSUs, has  now expanded to over 430 licenced companies and 16,000 MSMEs, with  around three times increase in value of production since 2014-15. The  private sector's contribution amounts to 21% in this, the official  sources said