UK signs $468 mln deal to supply India with missiles

The UK said on Thursday it had signed a 350 million pound ($468 million) contract to supply the Indian army with UK-manufactured lightweight missiles, as part of a deepening weapons and defence partnership between the two countries.

The announcement came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was visiting Indian Prime counterpart Narendra Modi in Mumbai, where the pair hailed the potential of the commercial links from their months-old trade deal.

In its statement on the defence deal, the UK government said the new contract for Lightweight Multirole Missiles made by Thales in Northern Ireland would secure 700 jobs at a factory which currently makes the same weapons for Ukraine.

“The deal paves the way for a broader complex weapons partnership between the UK and India, currently under negotiation between the two governments,” it said.

Starmer has over the last 12 months thrown his weight behind Britain’s defence sector to try to drive higher economic growth, pledging to up spending in line with NATO targets, as well as focusing on winning exports, such as a recent $13.5 billion frigate contract with Norway.

Britain also said on Thursday it reached a new milestone with India on a tie-up for electric-powered engines for naval ships as both countries signed the next phase of a deal, worth an initial 250 million pounds.

Indian author and former senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Avay Shukla has expressed grave concerns about the state of the nation, stating that India is becoming a “nation of duffers” and is regressing to the “Neanderthal stage.”

In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, Shukla asserted that India is evolving in the wrong direction. “It is clear that the Indian side of the LAC is one big duffer zone all the way to Kanyakumari,” he remarked, adding, “Other countries evolve for the better, we have been consistently doing it for the worse, and are proud of it.”

Shukla described the “duffer zone” not only as a geographical area but also as a state of mind.