From misfire to market: The uncomfortable questions behind India’s defense exports

LAHORE: As India expands its ambitions in the global arms market, New Delhi is positioning itself as a supplier of military technology rather than one of the world’s largest weapons importers. 

Among the crown jewels of this export drive are the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and Akashteer, an automated air defense command-and-control system developed for the Indian military.

Yet as India courts prospective buyers, a parallel conversation is unfolding beyond defense exhibitions and sales brochures. It is a conversation not about specifications, range, speed or radar integration, but about credibility, institutional reliability and the ability of a defense-industrial ecosystem to withstand scrutiny.

For critics, the concerns begin with an incident that remains one of the most embarrassing episodes in India's recent military history.

The missile that crossed the border

On March 9, 2022, a BrahMos missile was accidentally launched from Indian territory and entered Pakistan before crashing.

The incident immediately attracted international attention because it involved a strategic missile travelling across the border between two nuclear-armed neighbors.

What followed became almost as controversial as the launch itself.

Initially, India remained largely silent despite Pakistan publicly raising the matter and demanding answers. 

When New Delhi eventually responded, the explanation was that a "technical malfunction" during routine maintenance had led to the accidental firing of a missile.

However, as more information emerged, the official narrative appeared to evolve.

Subsequent explanations referred to an inadvertent release during inspection activity. 

Questions were raised about the circumstances surrounding the launch location and the nature of the activities being conducted at the time.

For critics, the issue was not merely the accident itself but the succession of explanations that followed.

The concern was that the incident appeared to move from being a technical malfunction, to an accidental firing, to a procedural failure attributed to personnel.

Eventually, a Court of Inquiry was conducted and responsibility was assigned within the chain of command. 

Officers were removed from service over violations of standard operating procedures.

But by then, critics argued, the reputational damage had already occurred.

A live missile had crossed an international border during peacetime. 

The world had watched as explanations shifted over several days. 

For detractors of India's export ambitions, the episode became a case study in crisis management, command discipline and strategic accountability. 

Even India’s own media highlighted the global embarrassment the country faced.

The BrahMos missile survived the incident. Its reputation, they argue, did not emerge entirely unscathed.

Production concerns emerge

Today, as India seeks to market BrahMos to a growing list of foreign customers, another set of questions has emerged.

Indian media reports have suggested that BrahMos Aerospace has experienced significant production disruptions. Some reports claim output has fallen dramatically compared with previous years.

The reports attribute the decline to internal organizational decisions, including the transfer of employees from Hyderabad to other locations such as Lucknow and Pilani. These transfers reportedly generated dissatisfaction among staff and were followed by resignations.

According to these reports, concerns have also been raised about delays in meeting future delivery commitments, including supplies intended for the Indian Navy.

While detailed official disclosures confirming these figures have not been made public, the reports have nevertheless fueled debate about the resilience of India's defense manufacturing infrastructure.

For potential customers, the question extends beyond the missile's technical performance.

Can production remain stable? Can delivery schedules be maintained? Can an expanding export portfolio be supported while domestic military requirements continue to grow?

These are not engineering questions. They are industrial ones. Yet they can be just as important when countries evaluate major weapons purchases.

Akashteer and the governance question

The debate surrounding Akashteer is different.

Unlike BrahMos, the concerns raised by critics are not centered on a high-profile operational incident. Instead, they focus on the broader ecosystem responsible for developing and fielding such systems.

Akashteer has been developed through India's defense-industrial structure, with Bharat Electronics playing a central role.

Supporters present the system as evidence of India's progress in battlefield automation and network-centric warfare.

Critics, however, point to longstanding concerns that have periodically surfaced within India's wider defense procurement and public-sector manufacturing environment. 

These include allegations of irregularities, corruption, procurement controversies, delays and bureaucratic inefficiencies that have accompanied various defense projects over the years.

The issue is not necessarily whether Akashteer itself is technically deficient.

Rather, critics argue that when governments purchase highly integrated command-and-control systems, they are not merely buying software or hardware. 

They are buying confidence in the institutions behind those systems.

For them, governance and credibility become part of the product itself.

Battlefield Shadow Over BrahMos and Akashteer

The latest incident of failure of Indian defense capabilities came from the battlefield surrounding recent India-Pakistan military tensions in May 2025.

Pakistan's military, through the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), presented a detailed account of operations conducted under "Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos."

According to the ISPR, Pakistani forces engaged 26 military targets across Indian territory and Indian-administered Kashmir despite the deployment of the Akashteer Air Defense System. 

The military's media wing said that strikes included multiple air force and aviation facilities, among them were Suratgarh, Sirsa, Nalia, Adampur, Bathinda, Barnala, Halwara, Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, Mamoon, Ambala and Pathankot.

Pakistan destroyed BrahMos storage facilities at Beas and Nagrota and that India's S-400 air defense system at Adampur was also attacked.

For critics of India's defense exports, the episode reinforces a broader argument: that systems being marketed internationally are simultaneously becoming subjects of competing real time battlefield tests, political messaging and strategic scrutiny.