Weapons makers descend on volatile subcontinent

NEW DELHI- Top weapons makers, vying to feed India's voracious appetite for arms, brought their helicopters, night vision goggles and mine-proof vehicles to New Delhi this week in hopes of winning a share of one of the world's largest defence budgets.

With its growing economy and emergence as an Asian power, India has rapidly increased its arms expenditures over the past decade, replacing obsolete Soviet-era military hardware with the latest technology in a race to keep up with regional rivals Pakistan and China.

"India is becoming a major actor worldwide," Filippo Bagnato, the executive vice-president for technical, industrial and commercial development of the Italian aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica, said.

This year's DefExpo-India - the sixth such event - has drawn about 650 defence companies from 35 countries, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Thales and BAE Systems, to set up stalls in a sprawling exhibition centre in the heart of the capital.

India, which needs to replace equipment bought from the Soviets in the 1970s and 80s, led the world in the purchase of military hardware in 2004 and is still in the top four, according to Rahul Bedi, a South Asia analyst with London-based Jane's Defence Weekly.

He said India was expected to spend US$80 billion ($113.5 billion) between 2012 and 2022 to upgrade its military.

International defence giants are hoping to secure most of that multibillion-dollar pie: India imports more than 70 per cent of its military equipment, mainly from Russia, Israel, France and Britain.

American companies are also slowly finding a foothold in the Indian defence market as the relationship between the two countries has warmed over the past few years.

"It's ultimately worth it for the sellers because the volumes that are acquired and needed compare with nowhere else in the world," said Bedi.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan - two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Tensions with China have risen as well as the two nations contend for regional dominance.

Bedi said Pakistan's military arsenal, though smaller than India's, was "a lot younger because their main suppliers are the United States and the Chinese".

Where the Chinese are concerned, "they completely outweigh the Indians and are in a different league altogether".

MILITARY BUDGETS
* US$4.4 billion - Pakistan. It also receives billions of dollars from the US for helping fight Islamist militancy.
* US$26 billion - India. It represents a 10 per cent increase.
* US$71 billion - China. Spending increased by almost 15 per cent last year.

- AP