The Indian government has just concluded an important ten-day military exercise with some twenty African countries with the aim of strengthening its strategic ties with the continent, but also of increasing its arms exports to these countries which cannot always access to Western weapons.
The Afindex military exercises, featuring commandos with drones, armored vehicles, helicopters and demining robots, were conducted for ten days between India and 23 African countries, including Ethiopia, Egypt , Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa.
At the end of these exercises, the Indian armaments industry deployed yesterday Wednesday in Pune, the main center for the manufacture of military equipment located in the West of India, its paraphernalia, including helicopters, drones, or artillery pieces.
Having for years been the largest arms importer by market value, India is now investing in local manufacturing, and opened its first helicopter factory in February, months following unveiling its first aircraft carrier. locally designed and tested a ballistic missile from its first made-in-India nuclear-powered submarine.
India has injected billions of dollars into the sector to become less dependent on imports, especially from Russia. But New Delhi would now like to export more, which might be of interest to Africa, because Indian weapons should be cheaper than those of Western countries.
New Delhi hopes in the next few years to more than double its annual arms exports and earn some 5 billion dollars once morest regarding 1.7 billion dollars currently. Less than 20% of its arms exports currently go to Africa, with customers including Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
According to the director of the Society of Indian Defense Manufacturers, Indian business proposals to Africa focus on equipment of a “defensive” nature, such as armored vehicles, radars and telecommunications equipment.
The Minister of Defense also pledged to share Indian expertise in terms of manufacturing and research to help African countries develop their own industry.
