Introduction
India is a constitutional republic with a parliamentary system of government, and a former British colony. It is the world’s fifth biggest military spender, spending US$ 86.1 billion in 2024, and ranks second in terms of military spending as a percentage of GDP (2.3%). It is the world’s second largest arms importer and has a robust domestic defence technology and arms sector which enjoys significant government financing. This is in part due to the past eight decades of military and diplomatic clashes with neighbouring Pakistan over Kashmir, conflict with separatist groups in northern India, and an ongoing territorial dispute with China over Tibet. The Indian military also contributes many troops to overseas UN peacekeeping missions, and maintains a naval presence in Oman and Mauritius, among other locations.
As the world’s most populous country and one of its largest territories, India is very ethnically and religiously diverse. Since 2014, however, the Indian government has been dominated by the Hindu nationalist BJP party, which has close links to far-right paramilitaries. President Narendra Modi of the BJP won a third term in office in June 2024 on an explicitly nationalist platform; he has been accused of directly stoking violence against religious and ethnic minorities in his campaign actions. 2025 saw a surge in violence by Hindu vigilantes and officially endorsed discrimination, particularly against Muslim, Christian, and lower caste communities, threatening India’s officially secular democracy, according to Human Rights Watch. Indian security services enjoy a high level of impunity for torture and extrajudicial killings, with one national human rights body reporting over 1,600 deaths in police and judicial custody and 93 alleged extrajudicial killings in 2024.
India has been engaged in a long-standing territorial dispute with Pakistan since the partition of British colonial India into separate independent countries in 1947. This has principally centred on the Kashmir region, where martial law as been in effect since 1990. Pakistan has supported separatist groups in Indian-controlled parts of Kashmir, and the conflict has erupted into full-scale war between the countries on several occasions. Most recently, India launched Operation Sindoor in May 2025 during which it fired missiles it claimed targetted military infrastructure of terrorist groups following a terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, while Pakistan claimed India targetted civilian infrastructure. Pakistan retaliated with its own Operation Bunyan al-Marsus targetting Indian military infrastructure. The parties reached a ceasefire after four days, though the larger territorial and military issues remain unresolved and skirmishes continue across the line of control, the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered regions.
India’s arms suppliers
India is one of the few countries to be both a significant importer of arms that also produces its own arms and is increasingly exporting them worldwide.
India was the world’s second largest arms importer between 2015 and 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Its main suppliers in that period were Russia (46%), France (22%), Israel (14%), the US (9.9%), and the UK (2.6%).
Russia and India
Historically, India has been heavily reliant on Russian arms and defence technologies, with an estimated 70% of India’s defence platforms relying on Russian technology. Contracts between the two countries amounted to US$ 50 billion between 2005 and 2025, according to the Russian defence export company, Rosoboronexport. India acquired five units of Russian-made S-400 air defence missile systems in 2018. In 2025, India signed a US$ 248 million contract with Rosoboronexport to acquire more powerful engines for its tank squadron. It has also engaged in joint production with Russia of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which has also been exported to the Philippines. However, Indian dependence on Russian arms is weakening. Russia supplied 76% of defence imports in 2009-2013 but only 36% from 2019-2023, according to SIPRI data.
France and India
France is India’s second major supplier of arms and technologies and the French government is making a major push to expand arms sales. Its 2016 contract with French firm Dassault to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets was marred by accusations of corruption, and led opposition politicians to call for Modi’s resignation. India acquired the jets, and in 2025, it signed a contract to acquire 26 Rafale-Marine jets, the carrier-borne variant, in what was reported in local media as India’s “biggest defense deal ever” (at US$ 7.5 billion). The company recently announced it would begin building Falcon 2000LXS business jets in India and will soon manufacture Rafale fighter aircraft fuselages in India, in a production agreement with Indian firm Tata Advanced Systems Limited.
Israel and India
Israel is a major ally of India and its third largest arms supplier. India was Israel’s biggest export market in 2023, according to SIPRI. India has been highlighted as particularly significant international market for Israel Aerospace Industries; IAI’s sale of Barak missiles to India in 2000 has also raised corruption concerns, particularly suspicious payments made by IAI subsidiaries in India. IAI’s Heron drones have been used by the Indian Air Force. The Indian military has deployed loitering munitions produced by IAI in its 2025 conflict with Pakistan.
Indian companies also export to Israeli arms companies. For example, Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd supplies Israel’s largest arms company Elbit Systems and IAI with electronic equipment. Alpha-Elsec Aerospace Systems Pvt Ltd, Tata Advanced Systems, and Wave Mechanics Pvt Ltd all supply parts and systems to Elbit. Workers in Palestine has produced a briefing on the Indian defence industries supplies to these Israeli arms giants.
Israeli companies often have production sharing agreements with Indian defence firms (more on India’s domestic arms industry below). Elbit Systems agreed to work with Indian conglomerate Adani Group in 2018 to make Hermes 900 drones in-country; these would be exported back to Israel for its own use. In 2025, Israeli arms giant Elbit systems teamed up with Indian firm Nibe Limited to produce the Precise and Universal Launching System (PULS) multiple rocket launcher in-country for domestic use and export. Israeli company Rafael is engaged in several joint ventures in India, and India is reported to be one of one of its largest external markets. Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) – a joint venture with the Indian Kalyani group – won a US$ 100 million contract in 2019 to deliver medium-range surface-to-air missiles to the Indian armed forces, and with Premier Explosives Ltd, Rafael is supplying missile parts to the Indian armed forces. In 2025, the Indian government signed an MOU with Rafael to acquire Ice Breaker stand-off air-to-surface missiles.
The US and India
The US is India’s fourth largest arms patron. Since the late 2020s, India has used Boeing Apaches, Globemaster and Chinook helicopters in military operations. In 2023, US firm GE Aerospace agreed a contract with Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for India’s Fight Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II—Tejas. In 2025, US President Trump announced an increase in US military sales to India citing the potential provision of Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, but the Indian government announced it would halt arms procurement from the US in response to Trump’s tariff policy.
The UK and India
The UK, India’s former colonial power, is India’s fifth most significant arms supplier. The UK is actively seeking to promote British arms industry in India, which is far less favoured than India’s top 4 suppliers. The UK Business Secretary in May 2025 suggested the UK should not be “squeamish” about selling arms to the country, which had just launched missile strikes against Pakistan. This has precedent: the UK continued to supply India with arms throughout the Kashmir crisis in 2001-2002, despite domestic opposition. In 2019, the UK-India Business Council started a new Aerospace and Defence Industry Group to promote defence cooperation, and also the UK defence industry in India.
Recent contracts have included the October 2025 UK£ 350 million contract to supply Lightweight Multirole Missiles made by the UK subsidiary of French company Thales in Northern Ireland, as part of a broader investment package announced during Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to India. In 2016, it was reported that Honeywell had provided TPE331-12B turboprop engines to support the production of Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40’s by a publicly owned Indian arms development company. In 2013, the Indian Navy received its first of 17 BAE Systems Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers. India’s biggest arms company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has partnered with BAE Systems to produce the latest version of the Hawk aircraft in India. The Indian Air Force ordered 106 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft from UK firm Martin-Baker in 2020.
Since 2020, British companies have obtained UK export licences for UK£ 1.1 billion worth of arms and equipment to India. These have included UK£ 781 million in grenades, bombs, missiles and countermeasures and UK£ 205 million in aircraft, helicopters, and drones components. Notable companies that have obtained export licences include: BAE Systems, Cobham, Meggitt, and Aviation & Defence Spares Limited.
India’s defence industry and exports
India is not only a major arms importer and production site for international arms companies. The country also has had a well-established domestic defence industry since 1958, with the establishment of the government Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). In the decades since, many more private companies have been established to develop technologies and arms primarily for the Indian military, with significant government financing and partnership with state companies. For example, in 2025, the DRDO and India’s Aeronautical Development Agency were developing an indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). It will be powered by engines co-produced with French firm Safran and is planned to be operational in 2035.
Domestic arms research and development benefits from initiatives like the DRDO’s Technological Development Fund and the iDEX innovation fostering scheme. There are two defence industrial corridors, in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh states, which the Indian government hopes will “catalyse indigenous production of defence and aerospace-related items.” India’s 2025 defence budget stands at US$ 78.3 billion, almost double what it was in 2018, a significant amount of which is spent on companies in research and development. In 2025, India’s Defence minister committed US$ 100 billion in new domestic military hardware contracts by 2033.
In October 2025, India’s Defence Minister said that its four-day ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan in May “is the finest example of self-reliance in India’s defence sector as the majority of the equipment used during the operation by the armed forces was indigenous.”
According to SIPRI, three defence companies in India are among the top 100 worldwide, in terms of arms revenues: state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, and public sector undertaking companies Bharat Electronics and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders. In addition to producing their own products for domestic use, Indian companies often work jointly with international companies to produce the latter’s products in-country. For example, local media reported in February 2025 that France was in advanced talks with India to buy an indigenously-produced multi-barrel rocket launcher system.
The US is India’s biggest arms export destination, reaching US$ 2.8 billion during the last 5 years according to the American Chamber of Commerce in India. Outside of the US, recent examples of Indian arms exports have included its supply of Bharat Systems Akash-1S surface-to-air missile systems (2024) and DRDO-made Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers (2023) to Armenia. India is expected to announce that it will supply Indonesia with supersonic cruise missiles in 2025; France was reportedly in talks to acquire the Pinaka system.
India and arms fairs
The Indian defence industry hosts two major arms trade expos that are attended by international companies including UK companies. These include: AeroDef India Manufacturing Expo, attended in 2023 by Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems; and DefExpo India, attended in 2023 by BAE Systems, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Thales UK, Collins Aerospace and Leonardo UK. India regularly sends delegations to the UK’s major arms fairs: Security and Policing, and DSEI.
