India Manages Diverse Arms Sources for Military Modernization.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

India is tapping into a wide array of suppliers in the global arms market, as well as its own indigenous capabilities, as it modernizes its armed forces and squares off with China. The nation's geography and lack of a formal alliance with the United States allows India the freedom to diversify its sources, but it comes at the cost of creating tension in the burgeoning partnership between Washington and New Delhi, according to defense manufacturers and analysts.

India--the only member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue group of nations to share a land border with China--has long been raising the alarm about Beijing's efforts to project power in the Indo-Pacific, said Richard Rossow, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. India was early to call out what many observers now see as Beijing's ulterior motives with its Belt and Road Initiative--a plan to develop new trade routes between China and the rest of the world--and dealings with vulnerable island nations in the Indo-Pacific such as the Maldives and Sri Lanka, Rossow said.

Now, India is teaming up with nations with similar strategic interests, such as the other members of the Quad group including the United States, Australia and Japan. China has condemned the partnership through state-run media and official statements, he noted.

"There's nothing that China fears more than the Quad, nothing at all," Rossow said. "It is the only thing standing between China's domination of the region and an open liberal system."

India's unique position sharing a border with China has affected the country's plans to modernize its armed forces, he noted. While Beijing has increasingly looked to assert its influence in the maritime domain through obtaining strategic ports in the Indian Ocean, it is simultaneously stepping up pressure in the ground domain. Land forces from the two countries have clashed a number of times in the past two years, resulting in casualties.

The Pentagon included these disputes in its annual China Military Power Report, which was released in November. Beijing is using the disputes to try and "prevent India from deepening its relationship with the United States," the report said.

Chinese threats coming from both the land and sea have forced the Indian military to split its resources during a time when New Delhi is strategically preparing to modernize its navy, Rossow said.

"A pretty strong border confrontation and escalating tensions at the border is a great way to make sure that some of these nascent steps India was taking towards a stronger maritime strategy are pared back," he said.

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, a senior fellow for South Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said this is the first time in its history that India has seen strengthening its position in the Indian Ocean as a foreign policy priority. Imports to India's harbors are a growing part of its economy that it must protect with a strong navy, he explained.

But the shift toward the...