India is increasingly confident in its defense exports, with Armenia emerging as its largest buyer of sophisticated weapon systems, including the Akash air defense missile systems, Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems, and 155mm artillery guns. Recent data reveals that India achieved military sales totaling $2.6 billion to various countries in the 2023-24 period, with the US, France, and Armenia being the top three destinations for these exports.
Indian defense companies, both public and private, are now selling an extensive array of arms, ammunition, and complete weapon systems to approximately 100 nations. This includes notable products such as BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Dornier-228 aircraft, artillery guns, radars, and armored vehicles, among others. However, exports to the US primarily comprise subsystems and components, with major defense companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin sourcing parts from India as part of their global supply chains and offset agreements. For instance, the Tata Boeing Aerospace venture in Hyderabad manufactures fuselage and secondary structures for Apache attack helicopters.
Armenia has been proactive in securing numerous contracts with India over the past four years, focusing on finished military products such as missiles, artillery guns, rocket systems, and various types of ammunition. Many of these agreements were established during Armenia’s conflicts with Azerbaijan, a nation aligned with Turkey and Pakistan, particularly concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Notably, Armenia has become the first international customer for India’s Akash air defense missiles, which boast a 25 km interception range. Brazil has also expressed interest in co-producing advanced versions of this system, with discussions currently ongoing for an inter-governmental agreement.
India’s arms export trajectory has also gained momentum following a $375 million contract in January 2022 for BrahMos anti-ship coastal missile batteries to the Philippines. This success has sparked interest from other ASEAN and Gulf nations in acquiring these precision-strike missiles, developed in collaboration with Russia.
Despite being the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 9.8% of total global imports from 2019 to 2023, India is steadily strengthening its domestic defense-industrial base. The government has introduced bans on importing certain weapon systems as part of its ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) initiative, pushing aggressively for arms exports.
With defense production in India reaching a record high of $14.5 billion in 2023-24, the government aims to triple this figure to $36.1 billion by 2028-29, while targeting arms exports of $6.1 billion. India’s defense-industrial ecosystem has expanded to include over 430 licensed companies and 16,000 MSMEs, with production value increasing threefold since 2014-15. The private sector now contributes 21% to this growing sector, indicating a robust shift in India’s defense capabilities.
