India To Deploy Defence Attaches To Boost Weapon Exports; Focus On Southeast Asian And African Countries

The Indian government is working on redeploying its defence attaches posted to foreign countries in response to the Prime Minister's call to boost weapon exports.

The shift will involve placing defence attaches in countries that can support the expansion of India's domestic defence exports.

The Department of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are pursuing this reform after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the need for boosting the country's defence exports at the combined commanders' conference.

"The military or the defence attaches will now be deployed in countries where they can mainly help in increasing defence exports of the country including products from both the public sector and the private sector," a senior defence official said.

The Official added that, fewer military officers would be sent to nations where we've traditionally imported weapons.

"At a time when we have stopped importing weapon systems from abroad and are insisting on production in India under the Make-in-India scheme, there is no point in maintaining a significant number of attaches in countries which have been exporting weapon systems to us," the officials further said.

According to the report, India has virtually banned imports, prioritising only essential equipment and pushing for domestic production where ever possible with the "Make in India" initiative.

Government will also permit attaches to promote sales of private sector's hardware, according to officials.

Western nations send military personnel along with their sales teams to promote the sale of their hardware in India and other countries, as it serves their national interest. The same approach can be adopted here.

India believes that its military equipment can be sold to African and Southeast Asian nations that require a consistent supply at a reasonable and affordable rate.

General Anil Chauhan's DMA is also focusing on boosting defence exports and minimising imports of the forces. The DMA's negative list for imports contains more than 400 items.

Recently, India has rejected or delayed various import agreements including the procurement of 33 fighter jets from Russia, high caliber guns for the Navy from the US, high altitude long endurance drones, and more.

The armed forces will only be authorised to procure critical equipments, subject to approval by the Ministry of Defence. Only those weapons that are deemed essential and necessary will be permitted for import, and they must undergo the highest level of scrutiny and vetting.