India clears military purchases worth $25bn to buy aircraft, Russian S-400 missile systems

• India's military spending reaches $71 billion this fiscal year.
• India's defence spending highest ever in a fiscal year.
• India ranks as second-largest arms importer globally.

NEW DELHI: India approved proposals worth $25 billion on Friday to buy transport aircraft, Russian S-400 missile systems and remotely piloted strike aircraft as it pushes its military modernisation and replenishes equipment after its conflict with Pakistan.

The decision comes on the back of another major approval last month worth $40 billion to purchase more French Rafale fighter jets for the air force and Boeing P-8I reconnaissance aircraft for the navy.

Friday's approvals also covered purchases of armoured piercing tank ammunition, gun systems and aerial surveillance systems for the army, increasing the life of the Sukhoi-30 fighter jets operated by the air force, and hovercraft for the coastguard, a statement from the defence ministry said.

Separately, the ministry also signed a 4.45 billion rupees ($47 million) contract on Friday with Russia's JSC Rosoboronexport to acquire Tunguska air defence missile systems for the army.

In all, India has approved 55 proposals worth 6.73 trillion rupees ($71 billion) and signed contracts for another 503 proposals amounting to 2.28 trillion rupees in the fiscal year ending March 31, the statement said, adding that both were the highest in a fiscal year.

India is the world’s fifth-largest military spender and the second-largest arms importer after Ukraine, according to latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

It has for decades been modernising its mostly Soviet-era equipment and increasingly looking to new sources including France, Israel, the United States and Germany. In recent years, it has pushed to manufacture everything from guns and drones to fighter jets and submarines at home, either on its own or in collaboration with foreign partners.