Of the 30 countries that attended a defence exposition last month to sell weapons to India, the world's largest arms importer, only the Russians had the chutzpah to dress up their tanks and guns with women in tight-fitting camouflage.

The confident and sexy display reflected Russia's long-time position as India's dominant military provider, but decades of effort by India to make its own hardware may finally be bearing fruit. India recently rolled out its own fighter jet, a tank, a mobile howitzer and a host of locally made ships.

If India succeeds, the Russians could be in trouble. Russia has nearly $39 billion worth of military equipment on order by India, representing nearly a third of Russia's total arms exports.

India's defence minister, A.K. Antony, said at a news conference during the exposition that the country's reliance on foreign arms makers must end. "A growing India still depending on foreign companies for a substantial part of our defence needs is not a happy situation," he said.

Whether India can break its import addiction is anyone's guess, but many arms analysts are sceptical. India is expected to spend about $11 billion this year buying weapons from abroad, despite decades of effort by the government to create a domestic military manufacturing sector.


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