India's Strategic Role in the Indo-Pacific

In the first official confirmation of India selling the BrahMos missiles to Vietnam, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said Saturday that a deal has been signed with the southeast Asian nation for the supply of the missiles, adding that a similar deal with Indonesia is in “final stages”. Singh, who is in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, made the comments in response to a question on potential buyers of the missile system. “My understanding is that with both Indonesia and with Vietnam, the deal is in the final stages… In fact, for Vietnam, I understand that it has already been signed, probably not publicly announced, but it’s already been signed,” he said. Signing a contract worth nearly 375 million dollars, The Philippines had become the first foreign buyer of the BrahMos missile system from India in 2022. In March, Indonesia had also said that it had entered into an agreement with India to procure the BrahMos missile system. The details of the deals with Indonesia and Vietnam are yet to be made public. Singh said countries generally sell sophisticated weapon systems and platforms to nations they regard as friendly partners. “Obviously, you share technology with people you trust,” he said. He said India has a strong commitment to the ASEAN nations, adding: “…we treat all of you as ‘friendly foreign countries’ with whom we can share advanced defence technologies”. He told delegates that India was ready to work with partners across the region and beyond to build resilient supply chains and trusted defence partnerships besides securing maritime commons. “Today, resilience has become one of the defining strategic requirements of our time,” he said, adding that geopolitical uncertainty, conflicts in Europe and West Asia, disruptions in maritime trade routes, supply chain vulnerabilities, technological disruptions and growing strategic competition were among factors reshaping the global security landscape. “The lessons from recent years are clear. Defence preparedness cannot depend upon fragile or overly concentrated supply chains. Nations today require resilient, trusted, diversified, and technologically adaptive defence industrial ecosystems,” he said. He said India had undertaken major reforms in defence production, innovation and exports over the past decade, adding that the sector had been opened to greater private-sector participation. He said India was not only modernising its armed forces but also emerging as a dependable defence manufacturing and maintenance hub. He said government-owned companies accounted for nearly 72% of India’s defence production while the private sector contributed the rest, adding that three Indian government-owned defence firms were among the world’s top 100 arms-producing companies. He said the Indian defence industry had built capabilities in areas such as missile systems, fighter aircraft and main battle tanks, and efforts are on to bridge gaps in propulsion technologies across land, air and sea domains. “Our objective is not to create exclusive blocs, but inclusive and reliable partnerships that strengthen collective security and reduce strategic vulnerabilities,” he said. Amrita Nayak Dutta writes on defence and national security as part of the national bureau of The Indian Express. In the past, Amrita has extensively reported on the media industry and broadcasting matters, urban affairs, bureaucracy and government policies. In the last 14 years of her career, she has worked in newspapers as well as in the online media space and is well versed with the functioning of both newsrooms. Amrita has worked in the northeast, Mumbai and Delhi. She has travelled extensively across the country, including in far-flung border areas, to bring detailed reports from the ground and has written investigative reports on media and defence. She has been working for The Indian Express since January 2023. ... Read More Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram