00:00Bloomberg has learned that India has approved $40 billion worth of defense spending.
00:04Sources say this includes the purchase of six U.S. maritime surveillance aircraft,
00:09as well as French fighter jets and missiles.
00:11Let's get to Bloomberg South Asia government reporter Swati Guptana.
00:15So Swati, what details do we have about the fighter purchase deal?
00:20Yeah, so it's a huge amount of money that the Indian government is committing to buying more arms,
00:27$40 billion, which would include possibility of buying surveillance craft missiles,
00:36and then the biggest one of it, which is 114 fighter jets from France.
00:42And that would actually upgrade India's military capabilities, especially in air warfare.
00:49So it is significant that India is approving and committing to buying more jets,
00:54which is following the three-day conflict that India had with Pakistan last year.
01:02So why France? That seems like an unusual choice.
01:08Yeah, so India has been keen to diversify and upgrade its military gear.
01:14And also it is keen to manufacture more in India.
01:18So a large percentage of the fighter jets are getting manufactured in India.
01:24That requires approvals for technology transfer.
01:28It requires governments to collaborate.
01:31And with France, that is a possibility.
01:34At the same time, India does want to build some distance that it has with Russia,
01:40where it has bought most of its defense equipment from that country.
01:45So in an attempt to rope in other countries, especially in Europe,
01:51France becomes a natural ally.
01:55So does this indicate anything about India's overall foreign policy goals?
02:02Yeah, India has been under a lot of pressure.
02:05Like the recently signed trade deal with the U.S. shows India is under pressure not to buy Russian oil.
02:13And at the same time, India does want to ramp up its defense spending and wants to buy more equipment.
02:20So it is trying to pacify the U.S.
02:25So the surveillance aircraft are coming from the States.
02:29And in the U.S. deal, as well as in the India-EU trade deal,
02:35India is committing to buying more and more defense products from these two sides.
02:41And it shows a shift that we have right now,
02:45where India is willing to spend a little bit more money to get more modern equipment
02:52and also to switch up some of the old methods in which it was procuring equipment.
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