NEW DELHI — India’s new Hindu nationalist government cleared Saturday proposals worth nearly $3.5 billion to modernize the nation’s aging Soviet-era military hardware and boost its domestic defense industry, a report said.
The move underscored the desire of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to move quickly to update the country’s military as India looks to defend itself against an increasingly assertive China and from rival Pakistan.
The government earlier this month announced a 12 percent rise in military spending in the annual budget as part of efforts to overhaul its armed forces, declaring “there can be no compromise” with defense.
The defense Acquisition Council on Saturday approved defense procurement proposals worth 210 billion rupees ($3.48 billion), many of which were longstanding, at a meeting chaired by defense Minister Arun Jaitley, the Press Trust of India said.
Read the full story at DefenseNews