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India courts Southeast Asia with affordable missiles amid South China Sea rows, Russia-Ukraine war
India’s move to boost its defence sector could undermine Chinese efforts ‘to establish military superiority in the region’, analysts say New Delhi can capitalise on Moscow’s strained arms production amid the Ukraine war, but observers note the ‘nascent’ industry cannot replace Russia’s
Maria Siow9:30am, 4 Apr, 2023
The recent surge in India’s arms sales to Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia, points to New Delhi’s desire to become a key arms supplier in a bid to stem China’s growing assertiveness in the region, analysts said.
Last month, India-based defence firm BrahMos Aerospace said it was in advanced discussions with Jakarta on a US$200 million supersonic cruise missile deal.
BrahMos is a joint Indian-Russian venture that makes multi-platform cruise missiles which fly at supersonic speed with pinpoint accuracy and deadly power.
With its eye on the Southeast Asian market, the company clinched its first foreign deal last year with a US$375 million sale of anti-ship missiles to the Philippines.
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The moves are part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious push to triple defence exports – which were US$1.8 billion dollars last year – to US$5 billion over the next two years.
Yogesh Joshi, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, said there was no doubt India wanted to emerge as a major arms supplier, especially in high-end and low-cost weapons exports that could boost the country’s “nascent but promising” domestic arms industry.
“It will also create an economy of scale for domestic consumption,” Joshi said.
Last year, India’s defence ministry proposed that it would buy almost US$1 billion worth of equipment from domestic manufacturers.
Southeast Asian countries can escape the Sino-US conflict by buying more from India rather than Western powers
Yogesh Joshi, National University of Singapore
The sale of BrahMos missiles to Southeast Asian states that have territorial or resource conflicts with China in the South China Sea, would also undermine Chinese efforts “to establish its military superiority in the region”, Joshi said.
“The more the People’s Liberation Army Navy is bogged down in the South China Sea, the less it will be capable of projecting power in the Indian Ocean,” he said, adding that arms sales provided India “some leverage” within the region because military dependencies will exist for decades.
“Southeast Asian countries can also escape the Sino-US conflict by buying more from India rather than Western powers, which will draw greater ire from China,” Joshi said.
