IN ORDER to expand military ties with new countries with focus on arms export, India has posted defence attachés (DAs) to these nations recently. It has been said that 15-16 new attachés from the Army, Navy and Air Force are being posted to countries like Poland, Armenia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ivory Coast and Philippines for the first time. Just last week, India delivered the fourth and final batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to Philippines as a clear signal to China. China has been meddling in the South China Sea and has major maritime and territorial dispute with Philippines.

 

It is perhaps for the first time that India has strengthened a friendly foreign country involved in conflict with China in the maritime domain. BrahMos missile is made in India and has exceptional performance dynamics, with very few parallels. Both the above events signal India’s aggressive military diplomacy to countries where it had less or minimal representation and defence deals. The military engagement in Africa is significant after India as president of the G-20 succeeded in inducting the 55 nation African Union as permanent member of the grouping last year. India is conscious of China’s well-established footprint in many African countries. India has also stepped up defence ties with countries having dispute with China in the South China Sea, namely Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malayasia, Philippines and Taiwan. With military training exercises with many friendly foreign countries including ASEAN block, India has pursued aggressive military diplomacy in the region and across the globe. Military diplomacy is the art of pursuing foreign policy in the defence and security domain. A defence attaché (DA) is a military officer, not below the rank of Colonel or equivalent in our case, who is posted to an embassy of India in foreign countries.

 

The main role of DA is concerned with focus on strengthening bilateral or regional military relations. India has about 70 DAs posted all over the world, with major representation in the USA, Russia and UK. These officers are from the Army, Navy and Air Force, based on the defence related requirement of the host nation. Having served in the Personal Branch of the Army dealing with the officer cadre, I am aware that the selection process of a DA is very stringent and only the best of the lot is selected. Now the focus of the Indian government is to boost arms export in a big way through the DAs. India’s defence export reached the milestone of Rs 21,083 crores in the financial year 2023-24, a major jump of 32.5 % over the last fiscal. The target for the next fiscal is Rs 35000 crores worth of exports. It is here that the newly appointed DAs would play a critical role to boost the exports. What is heartening is that the private sector of India has contributed towards 60% of defence exports and our Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) accounting for the rest 40%. Two major initiatives of the Modi government have enabled the growth of defence industry in the country. In October 2021, Ministry of Defence converted Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) into seven 100% Government owned corporate entities. Before this, OFB was largely a sick enterprise with little contribution in manufacturing world class arms, ammunition and equipment.

 

Just in over two years, the DPSUs are already in profit. Second major reform was to encourage the participation of the private industry. The private companies have significantly contributed towards defence production in the last five years. Indian private companies have manufactured armament and equipment matching global standards and these companies already account for about 25 % of the total defence production, with major chunk going in the exports. While the above news is heartening, it is also a fact that India remains largest arms importer in the world, accounting for almost 9.8% of the global imports. Our arms imports have grown little more recently because of the heightened tension with China since Galwan faceoff in June 2020. But now the focus is on becoming Aatm Nirbhar (Self Dependent) in the defence sector and significantly reduce the arms import in the next five years. The private industry is working towards meeting our requirements besides contributing towards the export route. Defence Industry is highly competitive and the profit margins are high when a company develops niche technology. For example, the future wars may employ drones and pilotless aircraft in a big way.

 

Then there is the naval ship industry where India had rich maritime heritage in the past. This can be revived. Ultimately, India has to emerge as the global hub of one or two niche or cutting-edge armament and equipment technology. This would require huge amount of investment and R&D, both from the government and the private industry. Indian Armed Forces are rapidly transforming themselves. So far, our focus was to fight like the last war but the mindset has now changed to fight the next war. Indian Army which is the second largest standing Army after China has been undergoing 2023-24 as the Year of Transformation and Technology Absorption.

 

The Armed Forces are increasingly giving the necessary impetus towards being self-reliant and to come up with weapon and equipment profile to match the best in the world. No wonder that the world has taken notice of our giant strides in defence and have evinced interest in dealing with us. As India aspires to be a developed nation by the year 2047, the military power would play even more significant role in ensuring the national security. Military diplomacy would be intricately involved in deciding the trajectory of foreign relations, groupings and treaties. The aggressive push in our military diplomacy is rightly timed for India to emerge as the respected global power in the comity of nations.