Weapons and technology

In its procurement decisions, India faces a balance-of-power choice as it weighs its options between western democracies and Russia

Weaponising a military force has never been easy. In the early 1960s, the Indian Air Force (IAF) grappled with the difficult question of which fighter aircraft should equip its military. Having equipped practically the entire Indian Navy with British warships already, New Delhi opted to build the versatile MiG-21, under licence from the Soviet Union. But even then, in our earliest days as a major arms buyer, New Delhi experienced the most fundamental reality of the international arms bazaar: Weapons procurement choices are rarely functions of technology or cost alone. Instead, they are most deeply anchored in