India’s Role in the IndoPac

My latest at the Diplomat is an expansion of a stub that I mentioned last week, and evaluates the recent CNAS report on the growing military gulf between India and China. The issue here isn’t simply economic growth (where India is doing quite well) or strategic interest (India definitely wants to spend money), but also has to do with the abjectly broken procurement process in New Delhi:

As the report points out, the United States has decided (over the course of three presidential administrations) to bet heavily on the promise that India could counterbalance the growth of Chinese military power. This has included technology transfers, arms sales, and joint exercises intended to improve readiness and increase interoperability. Unfortunately for Delhi and Washington, Indian military capabilities have grown only slowly, in stark contrast to the massive modernization and expansion of the armed forces of China. The situation has developed to the point that Indian advantages in two key theaters of operations have come under risk.