Indian Armed Forces

India to overtake Britain in Military Spending, Pak not even in the Race :: Australian Report

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• published: 06 Nov 2016
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The Indian government, flush with cash from its expanding economy, has embarked on an arms spending spree that will soon see it overtake Britain’s military spending. Its tussle with arch rival Pakistan is being won with budgets, not on the battlefield. The perpetually chilly relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbours went into deep freeze in September when three Pakistan-based militants crossed the Line of Control in Kashmir and killed 17 Indian soldiers at an army base. India launched a retaliatory strike on a terrorist camp on Pakistan’s side, artillery fire has been exchanged across the border, India pulled out of a regional conference in Islamabad —, causing its cancellation and embarrassment to the hosts — and last week India expelled a Pakistani diplomat, accusing him of spying, triggering a flurry of expulsions and withdrawals from both sides. And while the blizzard has set in, India is confidently striding ahead of Pakistan in military capability by the sheer weight of economic power — as Ronald Reagan did to the USSR, India is bleeding Pakistan dry. Since 2000, India’s economy has grown at an average rate of almost 7 per cent a year and its military budget has grown accordingly. Pakistan’s economy has grown at a much slower rate and its military has been involved in costly conflicts on the Indian border and Kashmir, on the Afghan border and with homegrown terrorists. In 2015, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India overtook France in military spending and is fast approaching Britain, which is behind the US, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia. India, the report said, spent $67 billion compared to Pakistan’s $12.3bn — but India’s spending is 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with Pakistan’s spending more than 3 per cent. Its impressive economic growth has allowed India to go on an arms shopping spree as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned $325bn modernisation of the armed forces. It also plays into one of his key election pledges: to bolster the Indian manufacturing sector with his Make in India campaign. It was recently announced that the 1.3 million-strong military would abandon its two- decades-old Indian-made rifles and seek to outfit its infantry with more up-to-date equipment, scouting globally for a new model for an initial order of 185,000 assault rifles. The Defence Ministry is also in the market for hundreds of thousands of helmets and tens of thousands of bulletproof vests. Last month it put out calls to global arms suppliers to buy 200 fighter jets, which could increase to 300, in a deal worth almost $20bn and one that could kickstart a local aircraft manufacturing industry. US firm Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 fighters in India, not just for the Indian military but also for export. Sweden’s Saab also has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early competition for one of the world’s biggest military aircraft deals. India also leased a second nuclear submarine from Russia and its home-built nuclear submarine, the INS Arihant, was quietly commissioned into service recently. This increase in military spending has been welcomed by the US and Australia, which view India’s muscular build-up as a bulwark not only against Pakistan, but also China. Rahul Bhonsle, of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis in New Delhi, said Australia should be looking beyond its alliance with the US and forging closer links with India. “Of course we both value our relationship with the US,” he said. “But, as you know, the US has been trying to shake itself free from this region. “We have started developing an independent relationship between India and Australia as we are the ones who are going to be operating in the Indian Ocean to keep the sea lines in this area free,” he said. “These are the two great democracies in the region and we have a long-standing military relationship which goes back to the first and second world wars.” Mr Bhonsle said India’s military build-up was worrying to Pakistan because it simply did not t have the resources to compete in an arms race, “because of its poor management of the economy and its many other problems”. Instead, it had forged an alliance with Beijing, but this too had led to concerns within Pakistan that it would “become a pawn in the hands of China”. source page : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/india-winning-race-of-economic-arms-against-pakistan/news-story/c52b3c49f31ca8acf7504624ca62f37a source : www.theaustralian.com.au Double O by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100503 Artist: http://incompetech.com/