When my dad was South Block adjacent in the 90s, the IAF was already fairly US and Israeli heavy and was in the process of initiating deals with Lockheed for EWACS, Javelins, and potentially F-16s before the Nuclear sanctions. The Army was already using indigenous guns, ToTed Swedish artillery (that caused another corruption scandal), and rolling out domestically manufactured MBTs.
After that, Israeli, Russian, and French companies were able to swoop in because of ToT and some bribery.
Indian dealflow for greenfield Russian systems already ended by the mid-2010s due to delays, open questions about Russian weapon systems efficacies, and better ToT terms from American vendors like Lockheed Martin (eg. The F-21 project and partial F-16 ToT to Tata Aerospace almost a decade ago). The downing of a MiG-21 by Pakistani F-16s during the Pulwama Crisis in 2019 was the final nail in the Russian defense procurement coffin in India.
When my dad was South Block adjacent in the 90s, the IAF was already fairly US and Israeli heavy and was in the process of initiating deals with Lockheed for EWACS, Javelins, and potentially F-16s before the Nuclear sanctions. The Army was already using indigenous guns, ToTed Swedish artillery (that caused another corruption scandal), and rolling out domestically manufactured MBTs.
After that, Israeli, Russian, and French companies were able to swoop in because of ToT and some bribery.
Indian dealflow for greenfield Russian systems already ended by the mid-2010s due to delays, open questions about Russian weapon systems efficacies, and better ToT terms from American vendors like Lockheed Martin (eg. The F-21 project and partial F-16 ToT to Tata Aerospace almost a decade ago). The downing of a MiG-21 by Pakistani F-16s during the Pulwama Crisis in 2019 was the final nail in the Russian defense procurement coffin in India.
India primarily keeps good relations with Russia to prevent Russia from becoming completely pro-China, as India's equivalent of the Atlantic Council points out - https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-india-factor-in-c...
This is the same story for Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and other Asian nations.