Growth in India’s defence exports, including key buyers and exported technologies
India’s defence exports are growing, with a focus on major buyers and exported technologies. It highlights the role of indigenous manufacturing and strategic policies in expanding India’s global defence footprint.
Abstract
Contemporary changes in India’s defence industry’s export sector are shifting the country’s position in global strategy. This paper studies India’s defence export strategy and examines the growing domestic capability streams, the policy shifts towards openness, and how this has transformed the country’s industrial-defence framework. It illustrates the emerging buyers’ geopolitical landscapes and analyses the range of exported technologies from value-added missile systems to modular aerospace components. Attention is also paid to the balance of impetus created toward indigenously produced exports and the enduring intent of media attention-grabbing unilateral accords. This study critiques the gaps and other constraints which challenge India’s attempts to emerge as a dependable and internationally competitive defence supplier and explores the trajectory’s sustainability and developability.
Introduction
India’s strategic, industrial, and economic perspective has changed dramatically as it moves from a typically import-dependent country into a burgeoning exporter in the global military sector. India has long been among the top arms importers in the world, acquiring premium weapon systems, platforms, and parts from nations such as Russia, France, and the United States. With a simultaneous drive to increase the nation’s presence as a defence exporter, recent years have seen a purposeful turn towards bolstering domestic manufacturing capability. This shifting path shows not just shifting security needs and policy agendas but also a forceful attempt to place India in the global arms trade hierarchy.
Growing focus on defence exports fits India’s larger national objectives under policies such as “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat,” which support self-reliance in defence manufacture. Across research and development, manufacturing licensing, procurement processes, and foreign direct investment, these programmes have accelerated changes. From a low of 686 crore (about $100 million) in 2013-14 to over 21,000 crore (about $2.6 billion) in 2023–24, India’s defence export volumes have thereby skyrocketed during the previous decade. Supported by the technological leadership of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the active participation of public sector undertakings (such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited) as well as private defence companies (including Tata Advanced Systems, L&T, and Bharat Forge) has helped to enable this fast expansion.
India’s defence export program has also grown more varied and deliberately sophisticated. It presently comprises aeronautical components, radar systems, electronic warfare modules, Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher, BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, Akash surface-to-air missile and 155mm artillery cannons, together with entire weapon systems. These technologies show India’s rising capacity for development, manufacturing, and delivery of competitive defence goods fit for the several operational and financial requirements of foreign customers.
Key export destinations from India provide a window into the geopolitical consequences of this change. Through the export of aircraft and helicopters, the United States represents India’s entry into global supply chains; France emphasises India’s role as a software and electronics provider in high-tech defence partnerships; and Armenia marks a strategic leap into full-spectrum weapon exports, so proving India’s readiness to supply finished systems to conflict-torn areas. These examples highlight the multifarious character of India’s export alliances and show a changing approach in which economic objectives are balanced with strategic impact.
Key Buyers of Indian Defence Exports
In terms of diplomatic interaction as well as economic production, India’s defence export industry has grown to be a strategically important sphere. Apart from internal policy realignments like “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat,” deliberate bilateral and global actions also promote this change. Among the many receiving countries, three stand out especially: Armenia, France, and the United States. From component-based supply chains to full-fledged arms transfers, each reflects a different style of cooperation, hence highlighting the complexity and variety of India’s defence export scene.
- United States: Integration into Global Supply Chains
Though mostly via the sale of components and sub-systems rather than whole weapon platforms, the United States, the largest defence market in the world, has become a vital destination for Indian defence exports. Particularly with aerospace and avionics heavyweights like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, this link shows the rising integration of Indian companies into the worldwide defence industrial base.
Long-term agreements to produce parts for American aeroplanes and helicopters have been obtained by Indian firms such as Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Bharat Forge, and Dynamatic Technologies. For the C-130J Super Hercules and CH-47 Chinook, TASL builds airframe components; Dynamatic Technologies has provided parts for the Boeing P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft. These exports include avionics sub-assemblies, engine components, and fuselage assemblies—fields that call for strict NATO and U.S. Department of Defence requirements and precise engineering.
India’s inclusion in the military manufacturing value chain defines this relationship more than end-use exports. It represents India’s manufacturing ecosystem evolving, as well as the confidence that worldwide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) now have in Indian suppliers. India and the United States also keep investigating co-development and co-production projects under Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) frameworks and collaborative working groups, hence possibly increasing India’s export footprint to other nations.
Strategically, this approach lets India expand its export portfolio without supporting sensitive weaponry sales that can cause geopolitical conflict. Particularly as Washington works to de-risk defence dependence on nations like China, the U.S. gains from affordable manufacturing and supply chain resiliency. India’s long-term goals to become a worldwide military exporter are raised as it acquires a reputation as a manufacturing base for high-tech components.
- France: Technological Collaboration and Niche Exports
Another important consumer of Indian military goods is France; however, the nature of the trade is very different from the American one. Especially for integration into their larger platforms and systems, French companies acquire a variety of software systems, electrical components, and specialist sub-systems from Indian equivalents. Reflecting a deeper technological interdependence, this connection is typical of the long-standing strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Many of which India itself has subsequently bought, Indian companies have helped with software and integration components used in French-origin military systems, including the Rafale fighter planes and Scorpène-class submarines. Beyond conventional defence exports, India also offers maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, training courses, and simulation tools, areas in which its strong information technology (IT) foundation has established relative advantages.
Particularly after 2016, the Indo-French Defence Partnership has concentrated on growing industrial cooperation and raising Indian involvement in international defence programs. To penetrate the European market, Indian enterprises such as L&T, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and Alpha Design Technologies have teamed with French heavyweights Thales and Safran. Beyond simple exports, these alliances involve co-production, knowledge transfer, and cooperative research and development (R&D), therefore laying a basis for future local innovation.
- Armenia: Full-Spectrum Weapon Exports and Strategic Influence
Armenia offers a very different picture: it is among the first nations to buy whole military systems from India, therefore qualitatively changing India’s export capacity. This agreement marks India’s change from a component and services provider to a full-fledged arms exporter with the capability of producing ready-to-deploy military platforms.
Armenia has acquired a variety of defence equipment recently: 155mm artillery guns, the Akash surface-to-air missile system, and the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher. Developed locally by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), these systems were produced by both public and commercial sectors like Tata Advanced Systems and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).
There are solid geostrategic foundations to this action. Armenia looked for diverse military suppliers to lessen reliance on Russia as the South Caucasus presented increased security challenges. In response, India has seen this as a chance to show the dependability and potency of its military systems while projecting influence into fresh areas. Not only for their financial worth, often reaching several hundred million dollars, but also for their strategic message: India can be a supplier of complete military systems even in areas devastated by violence. Armenia is the export partner.
India has also given Armenia’s military forces technical maintenance, logistics assistance, and training; value-added services like these strengthen long-term ties and help to sustain India’s reputation as a dependable friend. These events clearly illustrate India’s attitude changing direction: From transactional exports to deliberately coordinated defence partnerships.
India’s Defence Export Portfolio: A Sectoral Overview
The rise of India as a viable defence exporter marks a more general change in its strategic direction and defensive industrial base. India, a nation traditionally dependent on armament imports, has gradually diversified and enhanced its indigenous manufacturing capacity to fulfil local needs as well as those of foreign customers. India’s defence exports have a somewhat varied structure, ranging from high-value and technologically advanced equipment, including missile platforms, air defence systems, artillery units, and aerospace components. This diversification shows not just increasing industrial capability but also changing knowledge of the geopolitical demands of possible consumers.
- Missile Systems: The BrahMos and Beyond
Designed in tandem with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is among the most well-known products in India’s defence export portfolio. BrahMos, the fastest supersonic cruise missile currently in use, can reach speeds up to Mach 2.8–3.0, therefore reflecting the highest export potential of India in precision-guided attack capability.
India inked a historic $375 million contract with the Philippines to sell BrahMos missiles to its armed forces in 2022. Signalling India’s willingness to enter the competitive global missile export market, this agreement represented the first foreign sale of the BrahMos system. The Philippines contract shows not just the missiles themselves but also launchers and associated support systems, therefore demonstrating India’s capacity to offer complete, end-to-end solutions.
This export is important in many different spheres. Strategically, it shows India’s capacity to provide modern weapons to countries confronting marine security concerns, especially in the Indo-Pacific area, where India aims to offset China’s increasing might. Technically, the BrahMos export highlights India’s mastery of propulsion, navigation, and missile integration technology.
Additionally, attempts are being made to increase the exportability of the BrahMos system. A lighter, air-launched variant (BrahMos-NG) is under development, which would be appropriate for many different aircraft, including India’s own Su-30 MKI fleet. This change will probably make the missile more appealing to other countries with suitable air platforms, particularly Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian consumers.
- Air Defence Systems: The Akash Missile System
An indigenously produced medium-range platform meant for multi-target engagement and all-weather operations, the Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) system is another pillar of India’s military export effort. Designed by DRDO and manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Akash can intercept aerial threats, including fighter planes, cruise missiles, and drones, at distances ranging from 25 to 30 km.
Being the first verified foreign customer of this platform, the Akash system attracted significant global interest with its export to Armenia. Particularly in light of regional conflicts and mounting threats from unmanned aerial systems, Armenia’s choice to acquire the system was influenced by its competitive cost, operational flexibility, and successful deployment inside India’s armed forces.
Part of a larger package of military supplies, including other weapons including artillery and multi-barrel rocket launchers, the contract with Armenia reflects a growing defence cooperation. It also signalled a turning point in India’s capacity to export a complete spectrum of military solutions instead of only components or support tools.
Drawn by its cost and combat-proven track record, the Akash system has attracted attention in several other nations, including Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Acknowledging this export potential, the Indian government has created a unique Akash-1 derivative for overseas customers, thereby boosting radar capability and lowering system footprint to increase export appeal.
The success of Akash not only helps to generate income but also marks India’s entrance into a field usually controlled by a few numbers of well-known exporters such as the United States, Russia, and Israel. Platforms like Akash are ready to become standard-bearers of Indian-made air defence systems on the world scene as India polishes its technologies and matches its export criteria with international compliance procedures.
- Artillery Systems: Pinaka and 155mm Artillery Guns
India has also made significant strides in exporting artillery systems, mostly 155mm artillery guns and the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL). Working together, DRDO and Indian defence companies such as Tata Advanced Systems, L&T, and Ordnance Factory Board, now part of Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited, have developed these systems.
Originally incorporated into the Indian Army in the early 2000s, the Pinaka system, designed to neutralise enemy troop concentrations and infrastructure up to a range of 75 kilometres, has now been improved to include guided rocket versions. Its cost-effectiveness, simplicity of use, and modular architecture have drawn appeal for exports.
The 155mm towed and self-propelled artillery pieces, which follow NATO criteria and provide interoperability with allied troops, are likewise in line with India has also produced sophisticated howitzers like the ATAGS (Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System), which claims better range and automation than several peer weapons.
Having acquired both Pinaka MBRLs and 155mm artillery systems, Armenia once more shows itself as a buyer. These purchases show Armenia’s need for contemporary weaponry, given ongoing concerns about regional security. Countries seeking efficient, long-lasting, reasonably priced substitutes for Western or Russian artillery systems have found resonance in the dependability and simplicity of Indian systems.
Nations of Africa and Southeast Asia are showing increasing interest in these platforms. Indian artillery weapons’ topographical flexibility and operating simplicity make them ideal for nations with difficult topographies or limited defence resources. India’s focus on government-to-government (G2G) negotiations for such systems also provides dependability and openness, hence enhancing its reputation as a military partner.
- Aerospace Components: Integration into Global Manufacturing Ecosystems
Although India still exports only fully developed air platforms, the nation has developed a significant niche in the sale of aerospace components, especially those combined into big aeroplanes and helicopters utilised by international defence companies.
Key components for Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer come from Indian companies such as Tata Advanced Systems, HAL, Dynamatic Technologies, and Mahindra Aerospace. For example, India routinely produces parts for the C-130J Super Hercules, F-16 fighter jet, and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, which are then delivered to assembly plants in the United States and other partner countries.
Reflecting India’s capacity to follow strict international quality requirements, these exports span airframe and fuselage portions to engine parts, avionics brackets, and landing gear components. For the P-8I Poseidon and the Sukhoi-0MKI fighter planes, HAL, for instance, has provided components. The sole worldwide provider of fuselage for the Apache AH-64 assault helicopter is the joint venture Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL).
Such component exports strategically as well as economically, as they firmly put India in the worldwide aerospace supply chain. As India gains trust with OEMs, it also provides paths for future cooperative development and co-production of aircraft. Participating in these high-tech supply networks allows Indian companies to obtain cutting-edge manufacturing technologies, precise tools, and quality assurance standards, thereby improving the national industrial capacity.
Role of Indigenous Defence Production in Export Growth
The concurrent growth of India’s domestic military manufacturing ecosystem has been closely intertwined with India’s rise as a viable defence exporter. Not only are the rising volume and variety of Indian defence exports direct results of decades-long investments in creating domestic capabilities across research, design, and manufacturing, but also of favourable policies or strategic diplomacy. In this framework, indigenous production both forms the backbone and the driver of India’s export aspirations.
Underlying this change is a large institutional architecture combining private sector, state-owned defence public sector enterprises (DPSUs), and a dynamic research infrastructure. Along with private conglomerates like Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Tata Advanced Systems, state-owned companies like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) have been instrumental in providing platforms and systems that today comprise India’s export portfolio. Complementing them is the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the main driver of technical innovation and transfer.
- State-Owned Enterprises: The Bedrock of Manufacturing Capacity
India’s defence industrial foundation has always been built mostly on public sector businesses. HAL and other entities have designed and constructed a spectrum of aircraft, notably the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which is under active sales to nations in Southeast Asia, West Asia, and Africa. Tejas is an excellent contender for export, as his effective deployment inside the Indian Air Force has demonstrated his credentials.
Likewise, BEL, which focuses on electronics, radars, and communication systems, has sold goods to more than 20 nations. Leading exporter of subsystems and modules fit for worldwide platforms, its knowledge in manufacturing surveillance systems, electro-optics, and electronic warfare equipment positions it. Particularly in the field of radar systems, BEL’s recent agreements with nations in Southeast Asia and Africa show the increasing need for Indian-made electronic defence technologies.
These DPSUs greatly lower developmental risk for international customers using established infrastructure, large supply chains, and close ties with the Indian military forces. More significantly, their capacity to provide mass production for local requirements has helped to improve manufacturing techniques and guarantee consistent qualities required for effective exports.
- Private Sector Participation: A New Catalyst
The increasing involvement of the private sector has also sped up the change in India’s defence export scene. Particularly in the areas of aerospace components, artillery systems, and naval platforms, companies such as L&T, Tata Advanced Systems, Mahindra Defence, and Bharat Forge have become quite big participants. These companies deliver corporate efficiency, access to foreign markets, and adaptable innovation models that support state-owned companies’ efforts.
Under joint ventures with Boeing and Lockheed Martin, Tata Advanced Systems, for instance, is engaged in building fuselage for the Apache attack helicopter and components for the C-130J Super Hercules. Though technically components, these shipments indicate India’s entrée into high-value worldwide military supply chains. Similar development and sale of systems like the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher, which Armenia has purchased, have been greatly aided by L&T.
Offering integrated defence solutions capabilities that improve India’s appeal as a defence supplier, the private sector has also been very important in combining design, prototyping, testing, and after-sales support. With continuous changes including reduced licensing rules and more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the defence industry, the private sector’s role should grow even more in the next decade.
- The Role of DRDO: Bridging R&D and Export Potential
Core to the export ecosystem, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) acts as the main link between research and manufacturing. The indigenisation process has been much aided by DRDO’s conception and development of technologies. Many of which are currently being exported or sold outside, it has effectively developed systems such as the Akash missile, BrahMos cruise missile (in partnership with Russia), and Arjun main battle tank.
Transfer of technology (ToT) to production companies, both public and private sectors, has been a fundamental role of DRDO. This system guarantees that research results become economically feasible goods, hence creating a smooth R&D-manufacturing-export cycle. For instance, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) successfully exported Akash missile technologies thanks to their transfer to them. Likewise, the range of India’s exports has expanded with the help of DRDO in manufacturing modern naval platforms and unmanned aerial systems.
Additionally, working with overseas universities and OEMs, DRDO helps to create co-development prospects that increase the technological credibility of Indian goods in global markets.
- Policy Support and Ecosystem Synergy
An enabling policy environment has helped India’s indigenous production-led export expansion. Initiatives include “Make in India,” “Atmanirbhar Bharat,” and the Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020 have given the strategic direction and legal clarity required to harness indigenous talents for global expansion.
Further enhancing the export environment, the Innovation for Defence Excellence (idex) programme has pushed startups and MSMEs to provide specialist technologies that feed into bigger platforms. Establishing defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh by the government also helps to consolidate local industrial centres and include them in export value chains.
Conclusion
The United States, France, and Armenia instances capture India’s increasingly complex defence export portfolio. From providing crucial aerospace components to the United States, working on high-tech sub-systems with France, to selling full-spectrum military systems to Armenia, the nation is redefining its position in the world weapons market. Underlining India’s capacity to customise its defence export offers depending on the geopolitical backdrop and the needs of the partner nation, each relationship shows a new degree of industrial integration, technological collaboration, and strategic outreach.
These interactions also support the primacy of weapons exports in India’s more general foreign policy and economic agenda. India’s capacity to preserve quality, dependability, and diplomatic agility will define its ongoing success as the global arms market gets more scattered and competitive. With the government aiming at $5 billion in yearly defence exports by 2025, reaching that goal would depend much on changing alliances with important consumers.
India’s defence export portfolio now shows both strategic purpose and increasing technological capability. Export of missile systems, including BrahMos, air defence systems including Akash, artillery units including Pinaka and 155mm guns, and high-precision aerospace components shows a well-rounded and flexible manufacturing capability. From Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East, this diversification helps India to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of partners. India may go from being a regional supplier to a worldwide actor in the military sector by continuing to stress quality, dependability, and flexibility, thus generating geopolitical as well as economic benefits.
The development of India’s indigenous production capacity helps to explain its rising global military market presence. The combination of state-owned businesses, private sector innovation, and DRDO’s research programme has enabled the nation to provide competitive, dependable, and progressively complex defence goods. India wants to reach $5 billion in defence exports; hence, the basis and engine of its export path will always be the ongoing development of indigenous industry.
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