War gains: Indian military tech has arrived on the world’s stage

In 2013-14, India’s defence exports were a measly ₹686 crore. That has become a whopping ₹23,622 in 2024-25. From a small industry just 10 odd years ago, to becoming a multi-billion dollar one today, we have come a long way in a short span of time. This is bound to get even bigger thanks to Operation Sindoor.

Chinese made drones, missiles and defence systems proved woefully inadequate against the Indian attack. The Indian equipment on the other hand performed far greater than expected. Countries are lining up to buy high-tech Indian arms while it is inevitable that we will eat into the Chinese pie in the future. It is no wonder that the government is talking of more than doubling Indian exports to ₹50,000 by 2029.

One big factor was hypersonic missiles which is the latest superpower arsenal. This was the biggest reason why Operation Sindoor was so one-sided. Ukraine has been provided hypersonic arms by the West and Iran probably from Russia. Till Pakistan goes hypersonic, we will firmly have an advantage.

India has a plan

India has hedged its defence bets well. The Rafale is from France, Su-30MKI from Russia and Tejas is from the Make in India stable. That’s the case with other defence equipment too, where we have shopped from the USA, South America and Europe. The best part is now we are getting into joint ventures for production with a lot of defence equipment. We will get cheaper better products at home (less money on expensive imports) and be able to export in greater numbers. It’s a win-win for India when it comes to the military industrial complex.

India is on its way to becoming a global soft power. While we are the most populous country in the world and will soon be the third largest economy, we need to be in the Top 5 in many industries.

You cannot take the war machine lightly. CDMA, the mobile technology, was devised to beat the Nazis from jamming fixed frequencies. The remote control was first used to set off a missile. GPS, jet planes, computers and jet planes all came from military applications. Even Ray Ban glasses were made for pre-World War II fighter pilots for UV protection at high altitudes. If you are a military tech superpower, then you become a superpower in other technologies too.

One Tweet said about the recent Indo-Pak conflict: The fall of a failed nation and rise of a new superpower. It may sound hyperbolic, but it is directionally correct.