India’s Defense Minister A. K. Antony approved a new line of submarines — Project 75(I) — to be constructed in India at a cost of $11 billion. Our colleague Manu Sood, editor of the Indian defense website 8ak​.in, interviewed Bhupinder Yadav, who heads a small group of retired ex-servicemen at a defense and aerospace consulting company, Q-tech Synergy, to learn more.

Our colleague Manu Sood, editor of the Indian defense website 8ak​.com covers the impending $10 billion deal for the Indian Air Force’s new multi-role aircraft. While it’s too soon to predict a likely winner for India’s huge competition for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), the first indicators should be out as early as the next week when the technical evaluation committee’s report comes out. This deal for 126 fighters may cost $10 billion, but there exist huge price variances between the offered fighters of varying capability. And it is not yet clear if the number of fighters is fixed or the budget figure is.

In the 1971 war with Pakistan, the Indian navy turned the tide in India’s favor when it bombed the Karachi oil refineries and proved the strategic importance of maintaining a dominant water force. While the Air Force and Army complain about procurement procedures, the Indian navy has, in the face of the same obstacles, managed to keep building more warships, most of them in India. It is working towards becoming a modern, networked-force with capabilities to protect its interests in the entire Indian Ocean.

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, India head, Dr Vivek Lall told Manu Sood, Editor of 8ak, that he expects $31 billion of defense business in India in the next 10 years. Since it’s commonly suggested in business circles that India will spend $100 billion on weapons acquisitions in the next 10 years, this seems to be an ambitious 30 percent market share.