US Becomes India’s Biggest Arms Supplier, Russia Falls To Second Place

The US has bumped Russia and Israel to become India’s biggest supplier of military in the past three years thanks to large aircraft purchases.

Washington took home nearly $5 billion in arms sales from the $13 billion India awarded to foreign vendors.

Russia, New Delhi’s top arms supplier, fell to second with contracts worth $4 billion, followed by France with $1.9 billion and Israel with 553 million. Together all other countries won contracts worth $1.6 billion.

The news comes days after US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel visited New Delhi to push the sale of more equipment and to enhance cooperation. 

Officials, however, pointed out that Russia remains the largest overall supplier to India.

The Indian Air Force bought six C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft and 10 C-17 Globemaster strategic lifters. The Navy ordered eight P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft and Harpoon anti-submarine missiles. 

The US is hoping to win at least two major contracts for supplying 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy lift copters in the coming months.

The Russians have lost out on a number of big ticket deals, causing alarm in Moscow about the loosening of its hold on India's arms market, according to The Daily Mail.

Israel, which was slotted at number two in the list of foreign arms suppliers, has not performed well because many of its projects did not take off. 

The blacklisting of Israeli Military Industry following the allegation that it bribed Ordnance Factory Board officials too was a major setback.

Israel has been supplying surveillance equipment to the three services, including unarmed drones. But major projects like the development of longrange surface-to-air missiles and setting up an ammunition factory for artillery guns in Bihar have not fructified, the report added.