India has been modernising its military with fighter jets, warships, missiles, rockets, unmanned capabilities, and advanced tech in the last decade.
Now the country is among the world’s most powerful militaries, ranking fourth after the United States, Russia, and China. It is also the fourth largest military spender in the world.
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Both rankings have been declared recently. The powerful military index is from Global Firepower, the leading authority on military might, while the expenditure rank has come from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
According to the Global Firepower Index, India possesses a total of 2,210 aircraft, 4,614 tanks, and 295 assets in terms of naval forces. And according to SIPRI, India has spent $83.6 billion last year alone – an increase of 4.2% from 2022 – in building further defence capabilities.
Military, manpower, missiles
India has nearly 1.45 million active personnel in its military. Of these, around 1.25 million are deployed in the armed forces, 65,000 in the naval forces, and 140,000 in the air force. Another 12,000 work as coast guards.
In the last decade, the Indian military has undergone significant transformation.
In 2014, when the Modi government came to power, New Delhi commissioned the 6,800-tonne INS Kolkata, the largest-ever warship to be built in India. The 60% indigenously built warship boasts of very good stealth capabilities with state-of-the-art surveillance and weapon systems. In 2015, the INS Vishakhapatnam, the lead ship and the first of the Vishakhapatnam-class stealth guided-missile destroyers, was also launched.
In fact, over the last several years, India has also significantly boosted its missile capabilities. The country is ranked as the seventh most powerful in terms of missile technology. India’s missile capabilities include ballistic missiles (Agni, Prithvi), cruise missiles (BrahMos, Nirbhay), anti-tank missiles (Nag, HELINA), surface-to-air missiles (Akash, Astra), and anti-ballistic missiles (Prithvi Air Defence). In terms of tactical missiles, India’s BrahMos are among the fastest supersonic missiles in the world. Additionally, Agni-V is India’s longest-range nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile, with a range of over 5,000 km. It was developed by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and inducted in 2020.
Another standout tactical missile in India’s arsenal is the Pralay, a surface-to-surface guided short-range ballistic missile that follows a Quasi Ballistic Trajectory. It means it takes a low curved path after being launched and is capable of changing direction and range. It can also be canisterised, meaning it can be carried in a strong metal container that holds chemicals or gases. This allows for greater mobility and the ability to deploy the missile quickly in the event of a conflict. The Pralay is also capable of carrying a variety of warheads, including high explosive preformed fragmentation, penetration come blast, and runway denial penetration submunition, making it a versatile weapon for a range of targets.
In January 2024, India also tested a new air defence system, the AKASH-NG. It successfully launched a missile and destroyed a high-speed unmanned target off the Odisha coast, confirming the system’s full readiness to intercept various airborne objects that could threaten ground units.
As India continues to develop and test new missiles and missile defence systems, it is interesting to see how it strengthens its position further on the global stage.
Formidable nuclear inventory
India hasn’t officially revealed its nuclear capabilities.
While the nuclear program started in 1967, the last nuclear weapons test was in May 1998.
After this, India declared a moratorium on further testing, which many Indian nuclear scientists felt was an unnecessary and hasty move.
Now with more than 110 intense armed conflicts in the world (according to the Geneva Academy), and wars burning in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, there are reports of possible new nuclear tests being conducted by the US, China and Russia. India could follow suit.
India has an estimated around 170 nuclear warheads as of now and has produced enough weapons-grade plutonium for up to 200 nuclear weapons.
India has declared a nuclear no-first-use policy. But of late, unverified reports of moving towards a possible adoption of counterforce strategies against Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal are gaining ground. Counterforce targeting means aiming to eliminate an adversary’s military infrastructure in a limited nuclear war. In contrast, there is also countervalue targeting, which refers to using nuclear weapons to target an enemy’s cities or economic infrastructure.
India recently successfully tested the Israeli Crystal Maze 2 ALBM (air-launched ballistic missile), launching the projectile from a Su-30 MKI fighter jet. This test took place in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Crystal Maze 2 is designed for precision strikes against high-value targets up to 250km away. It can operate effectively in GPS-denied environments and penetrate areas protected by air defence systems, offering penetration or blast fragmentation warhead options.
These tests also underscore India’s operational readiness and commitment to self-sufficiency in defence manufacturing, with many of these missiles planned to be procured under the “Make in India” initiative.
China as a driver of India defence reforms and modernisation
India’s relationship with China has declined over the last few years.
The 2020 Ladakh crisis, when the first time in over 40 years, India lost over 20 soldiers in the Galwan valley border clash with China, served as an inflection point, and led to a fundamental breakdown of trust, reversing New Delhi’s strategic outreach to Beijing.
What changed after Galwan was India’s insistence that engagement with China could not continue as ‘business as usual’ and peace and stability along the border areas was the basis for normal ties.
India accelerated defence reforms, reorienting a combined arms attack corps to focus on the China border, and adding cutting edge technologies in terms of drones and cyber tech.
There also been a revamping and reorganisation of India’s intelligence gathering and assessment capability to prepare for hybrid warfare. In the past few years, New Delhi has spent more than 1,300 crore rupees in Ladakh itself, on infrastructure and habitat needs of more than 55,000 troops.
However, the People’s Liberation Army of China has not reduced or shown any signs of reducing the forces deployed along the India border (line of actual control). In 2023, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar described the situation as “dangerous and fragile as per military assessment” at a media conclave, highlighting the long-drawn challenges associated with the unresolved border and an assertive China.
In the last decade, the Modi government has renewed its focus on modernising the Indian military. One way has been to ramp up domestic production and indigenisation.
In 2022-23, the value of domestic defence production crossed the figure of Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time, according to the Defence Ministry.
Defence exports also reached an all-time high of approximately Rs 16,000 crore – almost Rs 3,000 crore more than the previous financial year. Defence exports grew by 334% in the last five years; India now exports to over 75 countries due to collaborative efforts.
India has now set a target of achieving a turnover of $25 million in aerospace and defence manufacturing by 2025, which includes $5 billion exports.
Over the next 5-7 years, the government plans to spend $130 billion for fleet modernisation across all armed services.
India will also work closely with the US, under the India-United States Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), where Indian and American startups will co-develop and co-produce advanced technologies, including in areas of space artificial intelligence.
Under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign, the government has set a target of achieving defence manufacturing worth Rs 1,75,000 crore ($21.14 billion), including defence exports of Rs 35,000 crore ($4.22 billion) by 2024-25. The domestic defence sector is also bracing for a huge potential expansion, with a contract size of Rs 4 lakh crore ($57.2 billion) in the next 5-7 years (2025-2027).
With India setting a target of 70% self-reliance in weaponry by 2027, the country is looking at a future with big prospects for defence players.