On October 12, 2026, Defense News reported that India has sold its homegrown Akash short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, giving New Delhi a first foothold in Central Asia’s arms market. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh confirmed the sales earlier this month in an interview with the news agency Asian News International (ANI), calling Akash one of India’s success stories. He did not disclose the contract value, and the report gives no details on quantities or delivery dates. According to the Defence Ministry, the system can engage multiple targets at once at ranges of up to 25 kilometres and includes protection against electronic jamming.
The buyers’ motives matter as much as the missile. Aleksei Zakharov, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Defense News that Central Asian states want to diversify because Russia, long the region’s main supplier, is increasingly focused on its own needs during the war in Ukraine and has less capacity to export air defence systems in large numbers. India also appears to see the region as a place to balance China, which has become a major arms supplier in Central Asia in recent years. For small states with modest budgets, a lower-cost Indian system is an appealing option, and Zakharov describes Akash as cost-effective.
The sale also builds on a record that is real but still young. Armenia became Akash’s first foreign customer in 2022 and has since become India’s largest buyer of military equipment, signing contracts worth nearly $2 billion since 2020 for items including multiple-launch rocket systems, counter-drone systems and anti-tank missiles. More broadly, India’s defence exports rose about 62 percent in the last financial year to $4.1 billion, with Indian firms selling missiles, drones, armoured vehicles, ammunition and aircraft components to more than 80 countries. The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, developed with Russia, remains the headline export, with the Philippines receiving a shore-based anti-ship system, a deal signed with Vietnam and talks under way with Indonesia.
The most interesting claim concerns combat use. Indian defence officials say Akash was used effectively during the four-day conflict with Pakistan in 2025, and Zakharov says the “battle-tested” label has boosted confidence and could encourage Central Asian buyers to consider other Indian equipment such as artillery and radars. That reputation is based largely on Indian accounts, and independent verification of what any air defence system achieved during that clash is limited, so the claim should be read as a sales point rather than an audited record. The same caution applies to the opposite side’s claims about their own systems, as we noted in our earlier pieces on the J-10C.
There are also reasons to read the “foothold” language carefully. A short-range missile with a 25-kilometre reach is a modest capability, and a first export deal with two small buyers says little about whether India can compete on larger systems. The details that would show how significant this is, namely quantities, value and delivery schedules, have not been published. Long-term success for an arms exporter also depends on spare parts, training and support, and India has no direct land route to Central Asia, which makes logistics a practical question. That last point is my own analysis rather than anything in the report.
Ultimately, the Akash sale is an encouraging first step for Indian exports rather than a breakthrough. Three markers will show how far it goes: the disclosure of contract values and delivery timelines, the arrival and operation of the systems in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and any follow-on orders for Indian radars, artillery or other equipment. Until then, India has sold missiles to two new customers in a region where Russia is stretched and China is expanding, and the next sales will show whether it becomes a lasting supplier.
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