Trump’s unfounded criticism of India over the Russian arms deal

Among the many Truth Social untruths by US President Donald Trump was one on September 1, in which he questioned the ‘one-sided relationship’ with India and accused India of buying ‘most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US’.

In contrast, the facts show otherwise. A few counter-battery radars and a used battleship were among the $233 million worth of military sales between the US and India prior to 2008. India has purchased $24 billion worth of military equipment from the US since 2008. Arms deals for jet engines, drones, artillery rounds, armored vehicles, anti-tank missiles, and torpedoes are expected to be worth $5 billion. Further down the line, there may be tens of billions of dollars in arms sales.

Given Moscow’s 50-year advantage over the US, the US is currently India’s second-largest military supplier, immediately behind the Russian Federation.

india-us relations are at their lowest level since the 1998 Pokhran-2 nuclear tests as a result of Trump’s trade war in 2025. After the nuclear tests delayed the delivery of the LCA Tejas light combat aircraft, which was supposed to be powered by an American engine, and caused supply chain problems for India’s fleet of Sea King and Sea Harrier planes, the US imposed sanctions.

Despite the trade battle, which has seen the Trump administration impose 50% tariffs on goods imports from India, India’s defense ministry remains optimistic about maintaining the two nations’ strong arms cooperation. A Reuters claim that India had halted arms negotiations with the United States was refuted by the Ministry of Defense on August 8. The pipeline for armaments is thriving. The Ministry of Defense referred to the news as “false and fabricated” and stated that despite the US tariffs, acquisition from the US was still going on.

Outside of the US, India is the biggest operator of Boeing P-8I Poseidon ASW and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. India today engages in more bilateral military drills with the US than any other nation, and defense trade has become a key component of the US-India security alliance. In 2016, India was named a “Major Defense Partner” by the US Congress.

According to a March 2025 Congressional Research Services report, “US-India security relations became a high-profile aspect of US Asia policy during the first Trump and Biden administrations.”

Whole classes of obsolete Soviet military hardware have been replaced by US military hardware. Soviet-built IL-76 aircraft have completely lost ground to Lockheed Martin C-130Js and C-17s in the Indian Air Force’s arsenal of medium-lift aircraft. The Air Force’s Soviet-built Mi-24 and Mi-35 armed helicopters have been replaced by Boeing Apache helicopter gunships. Soviet-built Tu-142 long-range maritime patrol aircraft have been replaced by P-8I Poseidons, while British Sea King Mk42B submarine-hunting helicopters and Soviet Ka-25 and Ka-28 have been replaced by Sikorsky SH-2 Romeos. The New Hampshire-made SIG 716 is the primary battle rifle used by the Indian Army.

The largest benefactors of New Delhi’s move away from Russia have been Western suppliers, such as the United States, which supplies 43% of all military sales worldwide.

Plans to co-produce modern General Electric GE F414 jet engines for India’s LCA Tejas fighter planes, Stryker infantry combat vehicles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles are among the tens of billions of dollars in American accords already in the works. Additionally, India will pay $4 billion to purchase 31 armed MQ-9B Sea Guardian and SkyGuardian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufactured by General Atomics, a California-based company.

The relationship is more than simply one-sided. Indian arms orders enrich the US military-industrial sector, protecting high-tech jobs in places like San Diego and New Hampshire. Many of these orders are being placed at the expense of India’s own high-tech defense industry, as the country’s defense industry has pointed out. They also come at the expense of Moscow, India’s dependable and long-standing armaments partner.

Nearly 72% of India’s military equipment was bought from Russia when the Indo-US strategic cooperation started in 2010. According to a 2024 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) assessment, Russian weaponry imports have now dropped to just 36%.

India only looked to Russia for specific special capabilities, such as the $3 billion lease of a nuclear-powered attack submarine or the S-400 long-range air defense missiles, which it purchased at the risk of triggering US sanctions.

The Biden Administration’s new bilateral technology-sharing and defense co-production project is in jeopardy because of the tariff war. Although the second Trump administration has pledged to strengthen this partnership, it has not yet started the process of changing US laws and regulations to advance defense trade between the US and India. To improve collaboration in delicate areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and wireless telecommunications, the US and India launched programs like the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, or iCET. Such collaborations on advanced military technologies may require Congressional approval.

If Trump’s tariff war continues, all of these programs may be in jeopardy. The most important factor in any defense relationship is trust, which has been harmed by the element of doubt that Trump has introduced into the India-US defense partnership. New Delhi would have good reason to doubt the United States as a trustworthy military ally. Donald Trump’s main significant contribution to the India-US defense partnership will probably be this terrible collateral damage, which will encourage New Delhi to either look at domestic industry or find new defense allies.