ASSESSMENTS

The Indian Military's March Toward Modernity

Feb 15, 2017 | 09:15 GMT

The Indian Military's March Toward Modernity
India hopes its domestically produced "Tejas" jet will help replace its aging fleet of combat aircraft. But the light combat aircraft's development is decades behind schedule.

(MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images)

India has taken a military leap forward over the past decade. In 2012, it tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, the Agni-V, now thought to be operational, and in August 2016, it commissioned its first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the INS Arihant, making it the first country from outside the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to operate such a vessel. Its shipbuilding industry has also taken considerable strides, launching the India-constructed Kolkata-class destroyer starting in 2006 and the country's first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, in 2013. But despite those impressive feats, a number of key structural and systemic problems continues to hamper Indian military modernization and reform....

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