Foreign Policy Magazine Says India Defense Buildup is Top “missed” story of 2011

According to the annual review of the news of 2011, Foreign Policy, ranked India at #1 in its list of Top Ten Stories you may have missed.

Comparing to China, the magazine said, India isn’t the only Asian giant investing heavily in new military hardware. India has kept pace with its neighbor to the north and, in some areas, is actually exceeding it — a development that, though much less noted, is a sign of the growing militarization of the region as a new generation of emerging powers with global ambitions jockeys for regional supremacy.

The publication chose to highlight India’s maritime power push. “India is focusing on sea power, a crucial new area of competition. The country is planning to spend almost $45 billion over the next 20 years on 103 new warships, including destroyers and nuclear submarines. By comparison, China’s investment over the same period is projected to be around $25 billion for 135 vessels.”  And it went to point out to its readers that for now, the United States seems much more comfortable with India’s military ambitions than China’s.

What this means

Even among the readership of an elite international publication, the awareness of India’s changing role in both the global strategic arena and the defense procurement landscape is not fully appreciated.