Background of the talks

India‑UAE Defence Talks: Sale of BrahMos and Akashteer Signals New Strategic Alignment

India and the United Arab Emirates are in the early stages of negotiations to transfer two flagship Indian weapons – the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos and the fully‑automated air‑defence system Akash (missile) – as the Gulf state seeks a broader supplier base after Iran’s recent missile strikes. The talks, confirmed by multiple sources, underscore a deepening security partnership that complements the flurry of trade and energy deals signed between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi over the past few years.

The United Arab Emirates has approached India for a suite of defence equipment, chief among them the BrahMos missile and the Akashteer air‑defence platform developed by Bharat Electronics Limited and the Indian Army. The interest follows a series of Iranian missile attacks that highlighted the vulnerability of the Gulf’s critical maritime arteries.

• ▸BrahMos is a joint Indo‑Russian project capable of being launched from land, sea and air platforms, and is among the world’s fastest cruise missiles.
• ▸The Akashteer system integrates radar, command‑and‑control and missile launch units to provide a fully automated response to aerial threats.
• ▸The UAE’s need to protect the Strait of Hormuz – the narrow passage through which most of its oil exports flow – has accelerated its search for diversified defence partners.
• ▸Earlier this year Abu Dhabi signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea on defence cooperation valued at more than $35 billion.
• ▸India’s defence exports rose to over $4 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2026, up from a modest $7.26 million in 2013‑14.

Strategic calculus for India

For New Delhi, the prospective sale serves multiple strategic purposes. First, it diversifies India’s defence‑export clientele beyond traditional buyers, reducing reliance on any single market. Second, the deal offers a counter‑weight to the recently announced defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which India views as a potential encirclement in the Gulf. Finally, showcasing indigenous systems such as BrahMos and Akashteer reinforces India’s claim to “strategic autonomy” without jeopardising its long‑standing security partnership with the United States.

• ▸Since the 2022 conflict with Pakistan, India has exported BrahMos to the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, and is fielding interest from Thailand, South Africa, Brazil and Chile.
• ▸The surge in exports reflects a policy shift: the Defence Export Promotion Organisation now actively markets Indian platforms at multilateral forums.
• ▸Indian officials see the UAE deal as a “strategic signalling” opportunity, allowing both nations to demonstrate depth of partnership while keeping Washington’s confidence.

Geoeconomic underpinnings

The defence dialogue cannot be divorced from the broader energy and trade matrix that links India and the Gulf. The UAE’s oil exports transit the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that also lies on the maritime route for India’s crude imports from the Middle East. By bolstering its own air‑defence capability, Abu Dhabi aims to safeguard this corridor, thereby ensuring uninterrupted energy flows that underpin both its economy and India’s energy security.

• ▸The United States continues to supply the UAE with high‑end systems such as THAAD and Patriot, but India’s entry adds a non‑Western option that aligns with Abu Dhabi’s diversification agenda.
• ▸The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that the ATACMS ballistic missile, a comparable Western system, has a maximum range of 300 km – a capability that BrahMos matches while offering sea‑launch flexibility.
• ▸Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that the UAE’s defence spending has risen sharply since the Iran‑UAE confrontation, reflecting a broader regional trend toward modernising armed forces.

International dimension

India’s outreach to the UAE dovetails with its wider diplomatic strategy in the Gulf, where it seeks to balance relations with both Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. While Riyadh pursues a leadership role that often aligns with Pakistan’s security outlook, Abu Dhabi has positioned itself as a more neutral hub for trade and investment, a stance that resonates with New Delhi’s “strategic autonomy” narrative. Moreover, the partnership does not threaten the Indo‑U.S. defence nexus, as Washington welcomes any effort that reduces the Gulf’s dependence on a single supplier.

• ▸The recent Saudi‑Pakistan defence pact underscores a shifting alliance pattern that India aims to offset through its own bilateral agreements.
• ▸By offering BrahMos and Akashteer, India provides the UAE with a credible deterrent that can be integrated with existing U.S. platforms, enhancing layered defence without creating interoperability gaps.
• ▸The emerging India‑UAE defence corridor may also pave the way for joint research and development projects, potentially involving Indian shipyards and UAE aerospace firms.

Significance and way forward

If the negotiations culminate in a contract, the deal would mark the first sale of Indian‑made air‑defence systems to a Gulf nation and could catalyse further exports to the Middle East. It would also reinforce India’s ambition to become a global defence‑technology supplier, a goal articulated in the 2022 Defence Production Policy. For the UAE, acquiring indigenous Indian systems adds depth to its security architecture while