Swadeshi, and security: How India’s defence sector is learning to stand tall

IN MARCH 2022, an Indian missile without warheads flew 124 km deep into Pakistan’s territory at supersonic speed and crashed near the eastern Punjab city of Mian Channu without any casualties or damage. India cited it as a ‘technical malfunction during routine maintenance’. Pakistan, however, used the incident as an opportunity to ridicule India’s ‘malfunctioning defence technology capabilities’. Neither country specified which missile. “In hindsight, it could have been an unfortunate technical malfunction or a ploy to test their defences. Normally, time-tested and costly missiles are unlikely to malfunction,” a retired military expert told Fortune India while commenting on Operation Sindoor. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, bombing nine terrorist camps in Pakistan. According to reports, India used SCALP-EG and AASM-250 Hammer guided missiles fired from Rafale and Sukhoi-30MKI jets, besides India-made SkyStriker suicide drones. Pakistan retaliated with swarm drones, including the indigenous Shahpur, and Turkish-made drones, Songar and Yiha III. But these were fully neutralised by India’s indigenously developed integrated air defence systems, undergoing constant development and upgrades since the 1990s to make them one of the best in the world. An integrated air defence system includes Russian-made S-400s (can fire up to 380 km), Indo-Israeli Barak-8s surface-to-air missiles or SAMs (which can fire up to 70 km), India-made Akash SAMs (25 km), and Israeli Spyder SAMs (15 km), besides Bofors L70 and calibrated anti-aircraft guns. Another hero was Akashteer, an AI-powered advanced drone detection, deterrence, and destruction system network developed in the past two years by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bharat Electronics and Isro. Following Operation Sindoor, Pakistan dramatically escalated, launching ‘Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos’, involving missile and drone strikes on over 25 Indian military sites. India’s air defence systems neutralised all of them. Within an hour, India hit back with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — Harops (Israel) and Warmates (Poland), along with the BrahMos [made in India in a joint venture with Russia] and SCALP-EG missiles — destroying 11 Pakistani military bases, and heavily damaging runways, planes, hangars, and infrastructure. It forced Pakistan to seek de-escalation, ultimately leading to a ceasefire. Tom Cooper, a world-renowned Austrian military analyst and specialist in the history of combat aviation, says India’s air campaign against Pakistan was a “clear-cut victory”. “When one side is bombing nuclear weapon storage facilities of the other, and the latter has no ability to retaliate left, it’s a clear-cut victory in my books. In this case: a clear-cut victory for India,” Cooper wrote in a detailed analysis of the conflict in a blog. John Spencer, a military veteran and the head of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute in New York, another global war expert, also hailed India’s Operation Sindoor as a decisive victory. “India’s domestically produced weapons worked, while China’s did not,” he said, mentioning the indigenously developed Akash and anti-drone capabilities. India vs Pak: How they stack up Global Firepower (GFP), an independent agency tracking defence-related information of 145 countries since 2005 based on 60-odd military parameters, ranks India at the 4th position behind the U.S., Russia, and China in its annual GFP Index 2025 ranking. Pakistan has been ranked 16. According to GFP, India has 14.55 lakh (nearly 1.5 million) active soldiers, next to the world’s largest China’s 20.35 lakh (2.03 million), whereas Pakistan has only 654,000 soldiers. In the case of reserve personnel, India has more than double of Pakistan and China’s reserves. Its paramilitary forces’ numbers are almost five times that of both Pakistan and China. India also has the fourth-largest defence budget in the world, whereas Pakistan is ranked 38. (India’s defence budget increased 11 times, from ₹2.53 lakh crore in 2013-14 to ₹6.81 lakh crore in 2025-26). In air power, India outnumbers Pakistan by miles, with a total of 2,229 aircraft, against the neighbour’s 1,399. India also has a clear edge in air attacks and defence, as revealed in the recent conflict — 513 fighters, including Mirages and Rafales, compared with Pakistan’s 328 (mostly Chinese-made J-10s and JF-17s, besides some U.S.-made F-16s). As against Pakistan’s 90 dedicated attack fighters, India has 130. India’s combat fighters include Mirage 2000s, Rafales, Jaguars, MiGs, Sukhois and Tejas. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is making the next-generation Tejas Mk 1As and 156 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH), Prachand, in a deal worth over ₹62,000 crore. Naval versions of Rafale are joining soon. When it comes to transport aircraft, India has 270, including the C-295, C-130J, and C-17 Globemasters — four times the number of transport aircraft used by Pakistan. However, Pakistan has more trainee aircraft, 565, when compared to India’s 351. In helicopters again, India outnumbers Pakistan by more than double — 899 vs 373. India also has the edge in attack helicopters, 80, compared with Pakistan’s 57. Land power is an area where Pakistan is a match somehow, especially in certain strategic areas like artillery power, a conventional war mode. Against India’s 100 self-propelled artillery guns, Pakistan has 662. But all that is changing. The Indian Army is acquiring new wheeled self-propelled guns as part of its Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan. Around 100 units of the K9 Vajra-T, a customised version of the South Korean K9 Thunder howitzer, manufactured by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) under licence, is in service. A fresh order for another 100 has been issued to L&T. Similarly, orders have been given to Bharat Forge and Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) to make ATAGS (Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System). In case of towed artillery guns, Pakistan has 2,629, mostly old generation, compared with India’s nearly 4,000 (including conventional and modern artillery guns). When it comes to tanks and armoured vehicles, India dominates the land battle scene. The country has 4,201 tanks, including the T-90 Bhishma, Arjun Mk1 and Mk1A, and the T-72s, which are replacing older Russian versions. The Light Battle Tank (Zorawar, made by L&T) is getting ready for induction. India is also developing indigenous Future Main Battle Tanks (FMBTs), targeting induction in four-five years. The country has nearly 150,000 armoured vehicles, compared with Pakistan’s 17,516. During the recent conflict, the Indian Navy’s fighter vessels, aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and submarines were stationed in the Arabian Sea, a key reason why Pakistan sought a ceasefire, say experts. While India has two aircraft carriers — INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya — Pakistan has none. India has a fleet strength of 293 ships and 80 submarines, compared with Pakistan’s 121 and 8, respectively. While India has 13 destroyer ships, Pakistan has none. India also has double the number of corvettes (armed small warships escorting attack ships), 18, and a petrol vessel fleet of around 135, compared with Pakistan’s 13. Currently, 60 large ships are under construction, valued at ₹1.5 lakh crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in January while commissioning three frontline naval ships — INS Surat, INS Nilgiri and INS Vaghsheer. In the last decade alone, 33 ships and seven submarines have been inducted into the Navy, with 39 out of 40 naval vessels being built in Indian shipyards, including INS Vikrant and nuclear submarines INS Arihant and INS Arighaat. Made in India India’s share of global arms imports fell to 8.3% during 2020-24, compared with 9.3% during 2015-19, making it the second-largest arms importer after Ukraine, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an authority on global arms trade. Russia remained India’s top supplier with 36% share, while France, which supplies Rafale jets and Scorpene submarines, is the second-largest, with 28%. Pakistan, on the other hand, imports 81% of its arms requirement from China. As proven in the recent conflict, faster modernisation and ‘Make in India’ in the defence sector with increased private participation has helped India become one of the top countries in defence capabilities. Of the ₹6.8 lakh crore allocated in Budget 2025-26 for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), ₹1.8 lakh crore, i.e., 26.43% of total allocation, will be spent on capital outlay on defence services, including cyber, space and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and Robotics. Some major acquisitions planned in the next year, including Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft of High and Medium altitude, stage payment of deck-based aircraft, next-generation submarines, ships and platforms technologies, will be funded from the outlay, says MoD. Capital outlay stood at ₹1.72 lakh crore during 2024-25, 20.33% higher than the actual expenditure of 2022-23, and 9.40% more than the revised allocation of 2023-24. Reportedly, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has sanctioned ₹40,000 crore on an ‘emergency procurement’ basis for capital acquisitions after Operation Sindoor. Make in India has fast-tracked modernisation of India’s forces in the past few years. While experts credit current defence minister Rajnath Singh to a great extent, they also laud his predecessor, Manohar Parrikar, who passed away in March 2019. An engineer by training from IIT Bombay, Parrikar was India’s defence minister from November 9, 2014 to March 14, 2017. The Centre has renamed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi as the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in 2020 to honour his initiatives to modernise the defence forces. The man who pioneered defence reforms and accelerated modernisation and private participation, Parrikar would have been a happy man today. Fortune India is now on WhatsApp! Get the latest updates from the world of business and economy delivered straight to your phone. Subscribe now.

Swadeshi, and security: How India’s defence sector is learning to stand tall

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