New Delhi, Feb 14: India is set to spend a whopping US$ 200 billion on defence acquisitions over the next 12 years to replace its outdated Soviet-vintage inventory.
 According to a study by the India Strategic defence magazine, nearly half of this funding, or $ 100 billion, will go to the Indian Air Force (IAF) which would need to replace more than half of its combat jet fleet as well as the entire transport aircraft and helicopter fleet.
 The army needs new guns, tanks, rocket launchers, multi-terrain vehicles while the navy needs ships, aircraft carriers, an entire new range of submarines including nuclear-propelled and nuclear-armed.
 The army has the largest requirement of helicopters while the navy needs both combat jets, helicopters, and a fleet of nearly 100 carrier-borne combat jets.
 The details of the study will be published in March but according to a brief report in India Strategic's DefExpo show daily being published Monday, it is not that India has military ambitions but just that more than 70 percent of the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces is 20-plus years old, and needs to be replaced as well as augmented with the sophistication of modern technology.
 There have been few defence deals after the allegations over the acquisition of Bofors in the 1980s, and Russia, which inherited the Soviet military infrastructure, is unable to meet all the requirements.
 According to official Russian reports, only 10 percent of the Russian weapons could be described as modern.
 All the three services as well as the Coast Guard and paramilitary organisations also need satellites and net centricity.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST