India Ramping Up Defence Exports to Africa

According to Narendra Modi, the country is setting high defence production goals. In a few decades, it plans to join the ranks of leading exporters of equipment. The latter will primarily be sold to African nations. The pace of economic development on the continent has attracted many companies to the region, including Alpari Forex Broker in South Africa.

The Indian defence industry is predicted to expand. There has already been a palpable rise in military export, which has been growing gradually for a decade. Last year, it stood at the mark of $1.5 billion. This is expected to be doubled, as Modi wants to see the defence business reach $5 billion by 2025 overall.

Defence Expo Novelties

The Prime Minister has announced this ambitious goal publicly on several occasions. At a recent Defence Expo in India, the 11th event of this kind, he claimed the local tech community supports the strategy of creating military defence equipment at affordable prices. In his words, this involves the development of 25 products based on AI by 2025. The moderate pricing will make it especially attractive to African states.

Among the systems presented at the exhibition were the Akash Surface to Air Missile System, Light Combat Aircraft, and the Dhanush Artillery Gun system. All of these were devised and manufactured by India-based companies. It was also announced that the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) autopilot, produced in Bangalore, has been flown aboard an aircraft It is the brainchild of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is an enterprise owned by the state.

The purpose of the event, which is held every two years, is to boost interest from international investors and purchasers of such equipment. In February 2020, it saw over 850 local defence companies who demonstrated their technology. The delegates came from seven dozen countries, and the number of technology firms reached 170.

India is planning to offer a wide range of defence equipment to international partners. According to Modi, this includes:

• guns for artillery,
• combat helicopters,
• aircraft carriers,
• light combat aircraft,
• frigates,
• submarines, and much more.

This is undeniably impressive. The Prime Minister, who is often praised as a charismatic politician committed to his country’s development, is doing a lot to give the defence sector a boost. It is not yet clear who the buyers are exactly. However, the released data contains estimates of 460 military manufacturing licenses issued since 2015. This is twice as many licenses as were issued under Modi’s predecessors.

Other Opinions

However, not everyone fully shares Mr. Modi’s sentiment. According to Mr. Rajnath Singh, the country’s Defence Minister, a lot will hinge on collaboration with other nations and defence businesses. He remarked that nations around the world are joining their local competencies for the sake of cooperation in the field and exchange of know-how with Indian specialists. This should lead to a mutually beneficial situation. He also acknowledged that India looks like the ideal partner thanks to its vast market base and rapid technological advances.

Source: Defenceweb.za

Image Courtesy: DNA