India and Pakistan, arch enemies who have fought four wars over Kashmir in the past decades, are now shifting their rivalry to a new area: arms exports.
While India faces mounting international interest for its military hardware designed in partnership with its old friend and close partner Russia, Pakistan is eyeing to export weaponry co-developed with its all-weather friend China.
Where Do India and Pakistan Stand in Terms of Global Arms Exports?
According to the most recent report published by the Swedish think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India and Pakistan today hold prominent positions on the list of the world's largest importers of military hardware.
As per the figures released by the Nordic organization, India held the numero uno position among the planet's largest importers of defense equipment for five consecutive years - from 2018 to 2022.
Bharat has purchased weapons from its long-time ally Russia for decades, including the recent multi-billion deal for the S-400 air defense system.
Additionally, South Block (headquarters of the Indian Defense Ministry), has acquired military products from strategic partner France and of late from the US as well.
Pakistan, meanwhile, ranked the 10th largest arms importer in the world from 2016 to 2020.
But things seem to have changed in the last 15 years, with China emerging asPakistan's biggest partner in almost every domain.
The reliance on Chinese defense items has seen a considerable rise, with surging supplies of submarines, fighter jets, missiles, and whatnot from China in recent years.
Plus, the Pakistani defense establishment has partnered with China in joint-production of certain military items like the JF-17 warplanes.
India's Brahmos Missile Making Waves on Global Arms Market
Last month, Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Enrique Taiana visited the Brahmos Aerospace headquarters in India with Buenos Aires' mounting interest in acquiring the widely acclaimed supersonic missile from New Delhi.
Though the final contours of the deal with Argentina for the Brahmos missiles are yet to be arrived at, there's little doubt that the Latin American nation is keen on enhancing its defense cooperation with India.
BrahMos rocket (desk)
© Sputnik
Previously, India signed an agreement to supply three batteries of the Brahmos missile to the Philippines. The deal, signed in January 2022, is worth $375 million.
The first batch of the three Brahmos missiles will be delivered to Manila in December 2023, which New Delhi hopes will bolster the Southeast Asian nation's maritime capability in the larger Indo-Pacific region.
The Indo-Russian defense firm is also targeting a follow-on order from the archipelago.
Atul Dinkar Rane, the Director and CEO of BrahMos Aerospace himself hinted at Manila snapping more missiles from the company.
The second order of Brahmos missiles to the Philippines is estimated to be as much as $300 million.
"The Philippines themselves have sort of indicated to us that this is just an ice-breaker. They are looking at more systems," Rane said earlier this year.
Among other countries that have shown keen interest in purchasing the Brahmos missile from India are two other Southeast Asian states - Indonesia and Vietnam.
In March 2023, Rane disclosed that the defense behemoth was negotiating a contract order worth $200 million to $350 million with Indonesia.
Jakarta is reportedly keen to acquire both the anti-ship variant as well as the version that can be fitted on warships of the missile.
Though the deal hasn't been inked yet, in July reports in Indian publications suggested that Indonesia's interest in the Brahmos missiles hasn't waned, and the contract is set to be signed later this year.
"With Indonesia, final rounds of talks are complete. The ball is in their court now, and we are awaiting their decision on the matter," a Brahmos Aerospace official was quoted as saying in the media.
India's closest partner in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is also discussing the purchase of Brahmos missiles from New Delhi.
In June, Vietnamese General Phan Van Giang paid a visit to New Delhi where he and his team of advisors are believed to have kickstarted talks over Hanoi's bid to obtain the Brahmos missiles.
Vietnam's deal for the Brahmos is expected to be around $625 million.
Onyx missile
© Sputnik
Like the P-800 Oniks missiles, the Brahmos is untraceable by the adversary's air defense. This is because of its tremendous speed -- officially pegged at 2.8 Mach (3,430 km per hour) for its land version.
On top of that the Brahmos missile is among a select band of missiles in the world that can be fired from land, sea, air, and a submarine, making it one of the most lethal supersonic missiles on the planet.
Middle East Makes Beeline to Acquire Pakistani JF-17 Jets
Co-produced by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chinese defense firm Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC), the JF-17 is a lightweight all-weather multirole fighter jet that was inducted in service by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in 2010.
The warplane can perform multiple duties like aerial reconnaissance and interception of enemy aircraft in addition to launching ground and anti-ship attacks on the adversary's military bases, land, and naval forces.
The JF-17 in its name denotes Joint Fighter-17, which signifies that the warplane is the successor to the US F-16 combat jets which formed the bulwark of the PAF before the JF-17's induction into service. At present seven squadrons of the aircraft are in service with the PAF.
The JF-17 uses a vast repertoire of weapons to carry out its operations and missions.
"The aircraft is capable of carrying some of the most modern as well as conventional weapons, including beyond visual range active missiles, highly agile Imaging infrared short-range missiles, air to sea missiles, anti-radiation missiles, laser-guided weapons, runway penetration bombs, stand-off weapons, general purpose bombs, training bombs and 23 mm double barrel gun," a description of the JF-17's weapons package reads on the PAC's website.
JF-17
© Sputnik
The Pakistani firm also mentions that the JF-17 can attain a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 (1975 kmph), turning it into a potent air platform.
The military aircraft has undergone multiple upgrades with its latest model called the JF-17 Block III gaining attention from potential suitors in recent months.
About three weeks ago, reports emerged in the Pakistani media that Iraq has almost finalized the procurement of the newest batch of JF-17 fighters.
The two Islamic countries have been engaged in protracted talks over the matter for the last two years.
Unlike its predecessor, the Block III variant comes with advanced avionics, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, state-of-the-art flight control systems, and a host of other improvements.
Before Iraqi interest in the JF-17 warplanes, Nigeria and Myanmar had acquired the aircraft from Pakistan.
But Pakistan has faced hiccups in marketing the combat jet in recent days, especially after Myanmar flagged technical concerns in its JF-17 fighter planes before grounding them in November 2022.
Why Does India Have an Edge Over Pakistan in Defense Exports?
Though the Pakistani media has eulogized the country's contribution to global arms exports, trade data suggests otherwise.
As per figures from the International Trade Center (ITC), Pakistan's exports of military hardware stood at $3.8 million in 2021.
Despite Pakistan's minuscule share in the world's exports of arms and ammunition, the International Defense Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) held in its port city of Karachi stressed that Islamabad was becoming a hotspot for defense products, especially for Middle East countries.
However, military aviators in New Delhi don't give credence to Pakistan as an arms exporter, pointing out that Pakistan is way behind its neighbor.
Lt. Colonel J.S. Sodhi (Retd.) asserted that there cannot be any comparison between India's and Pakistan's arms exports as the latter stands nowhere close to the former in this domain.
"There can be absolutely no comparison between the Pakistani & the Indian defense industry as the Pakistani defense industry which had an export of just $3.8 million in 2021, is solely dependent on the Chinese in terms of hardware and software and nothing of it has been made by the native Pakistanis. Pakistan is only a foreign assembly station for China's defense systems," Sodhi told Sputnik India on Wednesday.
He added that the Indian defense industry saw a massive leap in exports of defense equipment due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's successful Atmanirbhar Bharat & Make in India initiatives, which has home-grown defense hardware and software.
"India with its vast pool of qualified engineers and scientists is way ahead of Pakistan in defense production, as Pakistan is crippled with no technical expertise and political uncertainty," Sodhi underlined.
"The quality of Indian weaponry has improved a lot in recent years and that's why there is a lot of potential for New Delhi to push for exports to foreign nations, particularly to Latin America," Soi said.
The comments of the two military analysts come in the backdrop of India's booming defense exports which hit an all-time high of nearly $2 billion earlier this year, as per an official statement.
From exports worth only $82 million in 2013-14, India witnessed a 17-fold surge, touching the $1.4 billion mark in 2021-22. Subsequently, New Delhi's arms sales to foreign nations rose to $1.93 billion in 2022-23. These figures could touch $4.2 billion in 2024-25.