Akash Goes Global: Why India’s Air Defence System Matters Beyond Central Asia India’s Akash air-defence system has moved from an indigenous military programme to an export product with customers across the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The significance is bigger than another missile sale: it shows India beginning to compete for influence in a defence market historically shaped by Russia and increasingly contested by China, Turkey and other suppliers. For decades, the map of India’s defence relationships was relatively easy to read. Russia was central to India’s military hardware ecosystem. Western suppliers occupied important niches. Israel became a significant technology partner. And China was largely viewed as the strategic competitor rather than a market opportunity. That map is changing. India’s indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile system has now been exported to Armenia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, according to Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. Armenia was the first foreign customer and acquired multiple batteries; Singh subsequently confirmed exports to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. He described Akash as one of India’s defence-sector success stories and said its production had stabilised. The geography is important. Armenia is in the South Caucasus. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are in Central Asia. That distinction matters because the development is not
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