Signed during PM Modi's 7 July visit, the package makes Indonesia the second BrahMos export customer and the first foreign buyer of the DRDO-developed Astra Mk-1 — with unofficial estimates putting the deal near $630 million.
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From the dashboard
Defence budget FY26-27
₹7.85 L cr
+15.19% YoY
All-time-high Ministry of Defence allocation in Union Budget 2026-27, up 15.19% over FY 2025-26 Budgetary Estimates.
as of 2026-02-01 · source ↗
Indian Navy fleet strength
137 ships & subs
58 more under construction
Navy currently operates 137 ships and submarines plus 264 aircraft; 58 naval ships under construction as of 2025 (PRS analysis of Defence Demands for Grants 2026-27).
as of 2026-02-17 · source ↗
IAF fighter squadrons
29 sqns
vs 42 sanctioned
Fighter squadron strength dipped to 29 — against the sanctioned 42 — after the MiG-21's retirement on 26 Sep 2025.
as of 2025-09-26 · source ↗
Defence exports FY25-26
₹38,424 cr
+62.66% YoY
Record defence exports of ₹38,424 crore in FY 2025-26, up ₹14,802 crore (62.66%) over FY 2024-25's ₹23,622 crore.
as of 2026-04-02 · source ↗
Six faces · six directions · updated in place
Updated 1 Jul 2026
Updated 8 Jul 2026
Updated 5 Jul 2026
Updated 7 Jul 2026
Updated 12 Jul 2026
Updated 6 Jul 2026
In motion — event trackers
Budget tracker
High activityIndia's FY2026-27 defence budget hit a record ₹7.85 lakh crore, with ₹1.85 lakh crore earmarked for capital acquisition and 75% of that ring-fenced for domestic industry under Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The acquisition cycle is running hot: the DAC cleared roughly ₹52,000 crore of fresh Acceptances of Necessity on 3 July after a record ₹6.73 lakh crore of AoNs in FY26, the ₹70,000-crore Project-75I submarine deal is awaiting Cabinet Committee on Security clearance, and the ₹30,000-crore 87-UAV tender has moved into bid evaluation.
Updated 10 Jul 2026
Conflict monitor
High activityThe war has entered its fifth summer with Russia's ground offensive stalling — a net gain of roughly 97 sq km in the first half of 2026 at a cost of nearly 40,000 casualties in June alone — even as both sides escalate deep strikes: Russia's July 1-2 barrage on Kyiv was its largest air attack of the war, while Ukraine's drone campaign has knocked out an estimated 30-43% of Russian refining capacity, forcing Moscow to import gasoline from India. Peace diplomacy is frozen after Putin rejected Zelensky's June ceasefire-and-summit offer, and the war continues to reshape India's defence calculus, from delayed S-400 deliveries to a procurement tilt toward drones and counter-drone systems.
Updated 8 Jul 2026
Exercise watch
High activityThe 2026 Indo-Pacific exercise season is at peak tempo: RIMPAC 2026, the world's largest naval exercise, is underway around Hawaii with 30 nations and roughly 30,000 personnel — India among them with a P-8I — days after the US and partners wrapped Valiant Shield 2026 in the Marianas with a live-fire sinking of USS Juneau. Taiwan is running an April-to-August whole-of-society resilience programme, including a rare Nantou drill pairing a Chinese blockade with an earthquake, ahead of its Han Kuang No. 42 war games from 5 August, while the IAF sends Rafales to Australia's 19-nation Pitch Black from 20 July.
Updated 3 Jul 2026
Procurement tracker
NegotiationIndia's largest conventional submarine procurement — six AIP-equipped, Type 214-derived boats to be built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai with Germany's thyssenkrupp Marine Systems — has cleared cost negotiations and Finance Ministry approval and now sits with the Cabinet Committee on Security for final clearance before contract signature, which Berlin expects around mid-2026. Urgency has sharpened since Pakistan commissioned the first of eight Chinese-built Hangor-class AIP submarines in April 2026 and sailed it into Karachi in June. First P-75I delivery is expected roughly seven years after the contract is signed.
Updated 29 Jun 2026
The live layer
Reported Project 15C, 17B and 18A plans — sixteen hulls including 14,000-15,000-tonne combatants that would be the largest warships ever built in India — would anchor a decade of order books for Mazagon Dock, Garden Reach and other yards.
The Indian Army has issued an RFP for 450 locally built 84mm Carl Gustaf Mark-IV launchers — sub-7 kg, 350-800 m range — with deliveries to begin within 12 months, likely from Saab's Jhajjar plant, India's first 100% FDI defence project.
NATO's first summit in Ankara locked in €70 billion for Ukraine in 2026 with matching commitments for 2027, saw Trump offer Ukraine a licence to build Patriot interceptors, and launched a $40 billion, five-year drone and counter-drone push.
Pakistan's military launched Operation Shaban after attacks in Balochistan killed 38 security personnel and four civilians since 5 July. The army says 102 militants have been killed since, and blames India by name for the violence.
DRDO's 8 July Chandipur trial proved the Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket at its 60 km minimum range — fired from an unmodified in-service launcher, handing Army rocket regiments a drop-in path to precision strikes out to 120 km.
GE Aerospace has handed HAL its seventh F404-IN20 turbofan, but with close to 30 completed Tejas Mk1A airframes waiting for powerplants, GE's promise of 20 engines by December 2026 is now the pacing item for IAF deliveries.
A PLA ballistic missile submarine fired a JL-2 or JL-3 roughly 7,300 km from the South China Sea into the South Pacific on 6 July — China's first announced SLBM test since 1982, and a new benchmark for India's own sea-based deterrent.
Pakistan's 276th Corps Commanders' Conference pledged 'all measures necessary' to secure the country's share of Indus waters, formally binding the army to a dispute that began when India put the 1960 treaty in abeyance.
The DRDO-Dvipa Defence 7.62 mm battle rifle, built in 100 days, has passed Army GSQR and Home Ministry board trials, clearing the path for CRPF, ITBP and SSB to replace the ageing 5.56 mm INSAS.
A repeat Indonesian request and advancing UAE negotiations would carry India's flagship missile export from Southeast Asia into the Gulf — a test of whether Indian weapons can win in fiercely competitive markets.
A sustainment milestone at Koraput underscores the depth of domestic engine MRO — and renews calls for a dedicated indigenous aero-engine mission before the AL-31FP line winds down.
Ten domestic firms have bid for the Indian Air Force's 87-UAV programme worth over Rs 30,000 crore — a field wide enough to test whether India's private drone base can absorb, and survive, a contest this large.
