Before the dust of the “Afghan storm”, a teapot storm became more and more intense in the circle of allies of the United States. On September 15, Britain, the United States and Australia formed the three-nation security alliance AUKUS. Australia received the export of nuclear submarine technology from the United States and Britain, so it canceled the agreement to accept France to help build the submarine.
After being picked by its allies, France seems to be looking for new buyers to make up for the losses caused by Australia. On September 18, the foreign ministers of France and India reached an agreement on the promotion of a “true multilateral international order” project, which led to speculation that France wanted India to take over the submarine order.
If the follow-up “script” develops in this way, and India “takes over” Australia’s repentant second-class cargo-French conventionally powered submarines, then India will further establish its image as a “receiver” and even a “big head” in the international arms market. .
From “Buddha” to “Crazy”
Perhaps after a long period of humiliation by alien colonization, Indians have always had a dream of becoming a powerful country. “India can’t play a second-class role with its current status. Either become a big country or simply disappear.” This is Nehru’s rhetoric when he was still in the British prison.
After India’s independence in 1947, Nehru led the Indians to pursue their dream of becoming a powerful nation. But at the beginning, army expansion was not the first choice. Indian elites believed that as long as they were independent of the two major camps of the United States and the Soviet Union, “non-alignment” could create a peaceful and safe development environment for them.
At the same time, they are convinced that “restoring social stability and developing the economy” is their most urgent task in a country where life is devastated. India’s Mahatma Gandhi even believes that “India does not want to have a huge army and an equally large navy and air force. They will be found to be useless as a tool of war.”
However, the reality is skinny. After India suffered a disastrous defeat in the Sino-Indian border conflict in 1962, its national self-esteem was severely damaged. Afterwards, they re-examined and believed that in order to realize the “dream of a powerful country,” the Indian Ocean must first be truly turned into an Indian ocean, while at the same time always suppressing the enemy’s Pakistan and guarding against its northern neighbors. To do this, India must increase its force.
Before 1962, many elites in India thought that although they were inferior to the West, they were far better than China after receiving the baptism of Western civilization for a long time. They are especially confident in their own armed forces, because the Indian army created by the British colonists was once the “victorious army” on the Asian continent: they were once under the command of the P-shaped flag and became the “sun never set” British Empire. Opening up the frontiers and expanding the sea, and achieved brilliant results.
“Faircon” early warning aircraft
As long as arms dealers receive orders from India, they will always “knowingly” increase the prices of these weapons and equipment.
After independence, India remained in the South Asian subcontinent: In 1949, it sent troops to Sikkim, and in the same year it “taken over” Bhutan; in 1950, it took advantage of the civil strife in Nepal and strengthened its control; in 1961, it regained the colony of Goa from Portugal by force. … Therefore, India is also immersed in its dream of becoming a powerful country.
However, the fiasco in 1962 was a blow, and it became a watershed in the country’s defense policy and military development. India has moved from “shelving national defense” to vigorously purchasing foreign arms.
“Fragrant Pastries” in the Arms Market
In 2020, India’s GDP growth rate will be about -8.9%; this year it will not be much better. But in such a difficult time, India’s arms purchase budget is still increasing. In its military budget for the 2021 fiscal year, spending on weapons procurement was 18.48 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16% compared with the 15.91 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year.
In fact, as early as 2012 in the global arms market, India’s share of imports once topped the list. India’s “expensive shots” is a consensus in the international arms trade market. As long as arms dealers receive orders from India, they will always “knowingly” increase the prices of these weapons and equipment.
In 1999, India and Russia reached an agreement, Russia sold the “Chaoriwang” aircraft carrier to India, the price of 1 billion US dollars. However, the agreement stipulates that the “Chaoriwang” must be modified in Russia. This modification not only took 14 years, but when it was actually delivered, India actually paid Russia $2.3 billion.
In 2003, under the interference of external forces, Israel sold three “Felcon” early warning aircraft originally developed for China to India at a price of 400 million U.S. dollars. In fact, the price reached by China and Israel was US$250 million per aircraft.
In 2011, the United States and India signed an arms purchase contract. India will purchase 10 C-17 “Global Master” III strategic transport aircraft from the United States at a price of 410 million U.S. dollars each. However, the unit price of the same type of C-17 ordered by the U.S. military itself is 150 million. The US dollar, US allies Australia and the UK’s order prices are 190 million US dollars and 220 million US dollars, respectively. India knew that it was slaughtered, but it could only break its teeth and swallow it in its stomach.
C-17 “Global Overlord” III Strategic Transport Aircraft
India-made main battle tank “Arjun”
The main reason why India is willing to spend huge sums of money on arms purchases is mainly because of the illusion that it can miss other countries’ high-tech. However, the core military technology has always been the country’s top secret. When a military power sells its weapons to the outside world, it will “leave one hand”. This is an open secret that all parties have tacitly understood.
Military powers such as the United States and Russia all have strict review systems for weapons exports. Compared with similar domestic equipment, the performance of their exported military equipment is generally at a discount. For example, when India buys strategic transport aircraft from the United States, even if the price is several times higher than that sold by the United States to its allies, the United States still dismantles sensitive military electronic equipment before delivering it to India.
The fighter aircraft sold by Russia to India is also a streamlined version, and its fire control level is far lower than similar fighters used by Russia itself. Therefore, even if India is generous in its foreign arms purchases, it is difficult to get access to the core military technology of others.
A military power, a dream that is difficult to realize
When India became independent from Britain in 1947, its military equipment was almost 100% dependent on Western countries such as the United States and Britain. Therefore, the characteristics of “Made in All Nations” of military equipment have been deeply embedded in India’s bones since then.
Similarly, India’s military industry is also built on other countries. Although India has the ambition to develop its military industry, its industrial foundation is inherently inadequate, and its low-efficiency military industry can hardly provide the Indian army with satisfactory weapons and equipment for a long time.
Among them, the dystocia of the domestically-made main battle tank “Aqiong” is the most typical. India has invested 30 to 40 years in the development of “Aqiong”, but “Aqiong” has yet to meet the requirements of the Indian army and cannot be mass produced on a large scale. India has no choice but to continue to import Russian T-90 tanks as its main battle equipment.
The LCA “Glorious” fighter jets also spent more than 30 years of energy in India, and it has not yet reached the level that the Indian military is truly satisfied with. With the help of Russia, India has spent more than ten years and spent US$2.9 billion to build the “enemy destroyer”. The nuclear submarine No. 3, but shortly after it entered service in 2016, it was reported that it was inverted by seawater. The domestically-made aircraft carrier designed by Western countries and made by India has gone through 16 years, costing nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars, and is still in the sea trial stage.
The corruption problem in India’s arms purchase activities has almost reached the point of “no case and no corruption.”
LCA “Glorious” fighter
On August 9, 2021, in the Volgograd region of Russia, the Indian army and the army of the southern Russian military region held a joint military exercise
Our own military industry is “not doing well”, and the upgrading of cutting-edge weapons in the world is changing with each passing day. This objectively forces India to set its sights on the international arms trade market. At the same time, stimulated by the feelings of a great power, the Indian military is too impatient to update its own weapons. It not only lacks enough patience to wait for the advent of domestically-made equipment, but also finds it difficult to accept that the performance of domestically-made weapons and equipment is slightly inferior to that of foreign countries.
According to a report in The Times of India in 2012, the Indian military was dissatisfied with the performance defects of the domestically produced “Arjun” main battle tank and the delay in the development process. In the process of the comparison test, “Arjun” was defeated by T-90 deliberately by tricks. In the end, the Indian army got the Russian T-90 back as hoped.
Encourage corruption
The Indian military’s preference for “foreign weapons” is undoubtedly what the Western arms predators would like to see. At the same time, this preference has added fuel to India’s already corrupt arms purchases.
The corruption problem in India’s arms purchase activities has almost reached the point of “no case and no corruption.” According to statistics, the rebate rate of Indian military purchases has risen from 3% to about 10%, and it has even become an open secret within India’s official procurement staff.
French media once revealed that an investigation by the French Anti-Corruption Agency revealed that the French company Dassault, the manufacturer of “Rafale”, was suspected of paying 1.1 million euros to the “middleman”. The “middleman” is an Indian company called Defsys Solutions.
Coincidentally, the “Hindustan Times” also reported that in order to facilitate the work needs of government officials, the Indian government and the Italian arms dealer Finmecanica Group signed a contract to purchase 12 helicopters. However, not long after, many Indian government officials involved in the arms purchase were exposed to accept bribes from Finmeccanica Group.
What is even more frightening is that a foreign military-industrial company’s price is clearly about 40% lower than that of Finmecanica, but the company’s bid has not even been opened.
A large country like India needs a considerable amount of weapons and equipment. If the self-production capacity is not enough, it is very dangerous to rely too much on other countries. Other countries may impose a technical blockade on India and cut off the supply of weapons and spare parts, so that the equipment purchased by India cannot really function.
Nowadays, although India has been “taken advantaged” time after time in the international military trade market and has been ridiculed by outsiders, in the eyes of Indian elites, compared with international influence and national defense strength, it is insignificant to lose money in terms of money—because money is spent. After that, you can earn more. If security is threatened and the country loses its prestige, no amount of money can be exchanged.
