India’s multi-billion-dollar purchases of U.S. arms are less about shifting its reliance on Russian defense equipment — and moving towards the West — and more about developing its own domestic weapons industry, security officials and analysts say.
India is the world's biggest arms importer but almost all of its major weapons purchases now include provisions for joint manufacture or technology transfer, irrespective of the country it is dealing with.
Also, Russia's war in Ukraine has disrupted some military supplies to India, reinforcing New Delhi's long-term desire to diversify imports or replace them with home-built hardware, Indian defense officials have said.