Republic Day parade underlines India's shift from Russian to US weaponry

There was a strong Indian flavour to missile and air defence systems as well.

The all-time high participation of US-made aircraft in Sunday’s Republic Day parade, alongside a noticeably reduced Russian presence, underlines the growing shift in India’s weapons procurement priorities. While the Indian arsenal continues to field large number of legacy Russian weapons platforms, the new weaponry being inducted is mainly of US or Indian origin.

The American aircraft in the parade included the newly arrived CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft and the C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifter. In addition, the navy’s tableau featured the P-8I Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft.

In contrast, the