India’s Defence Export Story Is Changing Shape with Make in India

India’s record ₹38,424 crore in defence exports in FY2025-26, up 62.66% year-on-year, is not just a headline about scale. It reflects a deeper shift in what India is actually selling abroad and to whom. Officially, the country is now exporting to more than 80 countries, with the export base widening and the number of exporters rising as both public-sector firms and private companies push further into overseas markets. Recent official and policy material also shows that the United States, France and Armenia have emerged among the most important buyers in recent years, though what they buy from India differs sharply by country.

The first big category is complete weapon systems, where India’s most visible export success remains the BrahMos. The Philippines is the clearest example. In January 2022, BrahMos Aerospace signed the contract to supply the Philippines with a shore-based anti-ship missile system, and in April 2024 the first batch was delivered, including missile batteries, launchers and related equipment. That was strategically important because it marked the first export of the BrahMos missile system and showed that India can now move beyond components and ammunition into exporting a complete, high-end strategic weapons package.

The second major category is battlefield systems for land warfare, and here Armenia has become one of the most important case studies. Open-source reporting over the last year shows Armenia taking delivery of Indian-origin systems including Pinaka rocket systems, Swathi weapon-locating radars, Akash air-defence units, and ZEN counter-drone systems. Reporting in early 2026 also noted that the first batch of Pinaka guided rockets for Armenia had been flagged off, while other Indian artillery-related platforms such as the Trajan 155 mm towed gun and MArG 155 self-propelled gun were also being showcased in the Armenian context. In other words, Armenia represents India’s emergence as a supplier of a fuller land-combat package: rockets, air defence, surveillance radars, and anti-drone tools rather than isolated items.

The third category is maritime security platforms for smaller naval and coast guard forces, especially in the Indian Ocean region. This is where Indian shipyards and naval manufacturers have quietly built a footprint. Official and company material shows Goa Shipyard Limited exporting fast patrol vessels to Mauritius, while Indian-built fast interceptor craft have also been transferred to Seychelles. These are not glamorous “big-ticket” exports in the way missiles are, but they matter because they anchor India’s role as a practical maritime security provider to littoral states in the Indian Ocean. They also show that Indian exports are not confined to one-off defence sales; they include vessels that come with maintenance, training, logistics and long-term strategic relationships.

The fourth category is aircraft and aviation-linked exports, which are becoming increasingly important. Official PIB material has already identified Dornier Do-228 aircraft and Chetak helicopters among India’s exportable defence products. On the company side, HAL has disclosed export progress on Dornier aircraft for Guyana, with investor-call material indicating delivery of two civil-variant Dorniers and earlier discussion of a roughly ₹500 crore export order tied to that programme. Even when some of these aircraft are sold in civil or dual-use configurations, they still matter strategically because they showcase India’s growing ability to place aircraft built by an Indian defence major into overseas service.

For France and United States’s markets, India is often not exporting complete front-line weapon platforms. Instead, Indian companies are increasingly embedded in global aerospace and defence supply chains, supplying fuselages, empennages, aerostructures, electronics, precision parts and specialist subsystems to global OEMs. That is a different export model, but an equally important one.

For the United States, one of the clearest examples is Tata Advanced Systems and its joint ventures with American majors. Tata’s Hyderabad joint venture with Boeing is described as the global single source of fuselages for the AH-64 Apache, including deliveries to Boeing’s global customers and the U.S. Army. Likewise, the Tata-Lockheed Martin aerostructures partnership in Hyderabad has become the single global source of C-130J empennage assemblies (tail assembly) for all new Super Hercules aircraft, with Lockheed saying the joint venture has already produced hundreds of empennages. This means that part of what India is effectively “selling to the U.S.” is not a finished Indian-branded weapon, but vital airframe sections that feed directly into American military aircraft production lines.

For France, the same supply-chain logic is becoming more visible. In 2025, Dassault Aviation and Tata Advanced Systems signed production-transfer agreements to manufacture Rafale fighter fuselage sections in India for India and other global markets. That is a notable shift because it places India inside the industrial chain of one of the world’s most successful combat aircraft programmes. Alongside that, Airbus and Indian partners such as Tata have been expanding manufacturing relationships around platforms such as the C295 and the H125 helicopter, reinforcing India’s role as a manufacturing and export base for aerospace structures and assemblies connected to French and European defence ecosystems. So when France shows up among India’s key defence export destinations, a significant part of that story is about industrial participation and aerospace structures, not only conventional arms sales.

We can say with confidence is that the Indian export basket now spans missiles, artillery-related systems, radars, torpedoes, boats, patrol vessels, aircraft, helicopters, protective gear, and electronic components, and that Indian firms are succeeding both as direct exporters of finished military equipment and as suppliers to Western aerospace and defence primes.

In strategic terms, that may be the real milestone. India is no longer only trying to become a seller of a few marquee systems. It is becoming something broader: a defence manufacturer that can export complete weapons to some countries, maritime security platforms to others, and critical subsystems to the biggest defence-industrial ecosystems in the world. That is a more durable model, and it is probably the main reason the export story is accelerating now.

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