India unveiled Monday its largest helicopter factory, capable of producing at least 1,000 aircraft a year, as part of a self-defense push to counter China’s assertiveness.
New Delhi also announced a double increase in its annual defense budget last week with an eye on geopolitical rivalries, which refer to the disputed northern border.
Defense production
India is one of the world’s largest arms importers and, even with a new push for local defense production, is still heavily dependent on hardware from Moscow, its largest and oldest military supplier.
The new helicopter facility fulfills “our government’s promise to reduce India’s dependence on foreign countries for its defense needs”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after the inauguration.
“I am happy that hundreds of different weapons and defense systems – from modern assault rifles to tanks, aircraft carriers, helicopters and transport aircraft – are now manufactured in India,” he said.
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What is being touted as Asia’s largest helicopter factory will initially produce Indian designed and developed Light Utility Helicopters and then expand to build other multirole helicopters.
The plant in the southern state of Karnataka was inaugurated just months after New Delhi launched a local attack helicopter, designed for use in high altitude areas such as the Himalayas.
India’s first aircraft
India is also introducing its first locally-built aircraft carrier in September 2022, an important step in its efforts to counter Beijing’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean region.
Asia’s third-largest economy also became only one of six countries with nuclear strike capabilities on land, sea and air after testing a ballistic missile from its first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine.
India has fought wars and has long-standing border disputes with two nuclear-armed neighbors, arch-rivals Pakistan and China.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed on the border with China in 2020.
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