New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: India buys the most defence arms globally (1990-2019), followed by Saudi Arabia and China. At the same time, India is at the 38th position in arms exports (1990-2019). Countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius buy weapons from India. At the same time, America supplies the most weapons to the world. Russia ranks second in terms of arms exports. This has been revealed in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Arms Transfers Database.

According to the report released by SIPRI, Russia has been a significant contributor to India's defence needs. Russia exported 56 per cent of weapons to India, compared to 72 per cent in 2010-14. As a result, between 2014 and 2019, imports from Israel and France increased. However, the Russian share in Indian imports is likely to grow rapidly during the next five-year period. India has recently signed several major defence deals, and several are in the pipeline.

Similar to Russia, imports from the United States also declined to India. However, the US accounts for 36 per cent of arms exports worldwide. From 2015 to 2019, the US sent weapons to 96 countries. More than half of America's weapons were exported to Central Asia and the Gulf countries.

 

India and China had the highest military spending in Asia in 2019. It ranks second and third respectively in terms of military expenditure in the world. China's military spending reached USD 261 billion in 2019. It increased by 5.1 per cent over 2018. India's military expenditure rose to USD 71.1 billion in 2019, increasing by 6.8 per cent over 2018.

According to data from SIPRI for the period 2015-19, India also acquired military hardware from other countries, including Scanter-6000 radars from Denmark, Embraer ERJ-145 jets for a home-grown airborne early warning and control system from Brazil, ACTAS sonar systems from Germany, Super Rapid 76mm naval guns from Italy and K-9 Thunder 155mm artillery guns from South Korea.

In 2015-2019, India purchased Scanter-6000 radars from Denmark, Embraer ERJ-145 jets Brazil, ACTAS sonar system from Germany, Super Rapid 76mm naval guns from Italy, and K-9 Thunder 155mm artillery guns from South Korea. According to the report, India uses fighter aircraft of France and Russia, guided bombs from Israel, and Sweden's artillery.