INDIA THE LARGEST DEMOCRACY BY POPULATION COUNTRY INCREASES ITS DEFENSE EXPENDITURE –BUYING USA HARDWARE $5.5BILLION OVER RUSSIAN MADE HARDWARE $4BILLION

India has emerged as the world's largest arms buyer in recent years, but hopes to reverse this by strengthening its domestic defense industry. The United States was India's largest arms supplier in recent years, dislodging Russia as New Delhi's principal source of weapons.

Defense Minister Arun Jaitley told parliament that India bought arms worth nearly $5.5 billion from the United States in the last three years, surpassing purchases from Russia worth about $4 billion during the same period.
According to Rahul Bedi at IHS Jane's Defense Weekly in New Delhi, more deals with Washington are in the pipeline.

"There are two contracts for helicopters, attack helicopters and heavy lift helicopters, which the U.S. has secured over Russian platforms, they were pitted against Russian helicopters, and that is worth another $2.5 billion, so the American kitty seems to be growing," Bedi said.

In recent years, India has been trying to diversify its arms purchases to move away from its huge dependency on weapons from Moscow, its Cold War ally.

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