Rostec: India will continue buying airfrafts from Russia

T-90 tanks, Su-30MKI fighters, Ka-226 helicopters, the C-400 Triumph air defense systems are set to consolidate the military and technical cooperation between Russia and India, according to Izvestiya.

Victor Kladov, Director of International Cooperation and Regional Policy at Rostec State Corporation, told Izvestiya that Deli intends to strengthen its combat readiness through the procurement of equipment and the joint production of Russian armaments and equipment.

“India is one of the main strategic partners of Russia in the field of military and technical cooperation,” said Victor Kladov. “Our relations are of a target-based and long-term nature. We have a number of joint production facilities in India: in the future, they will produce at least 1,000 T-90 tanks, 250 Su-30 MKI fighters and 200 Ka-226 helicopters.”

“The annual GDP increase of 9% in India has meant that the country can buy what it wants,” said Vadim Kozyulin, Professor of the Military Science Academy. “And enough blind spots have appeared in this respect.” As a result, India has begun to pay more and more attention not to Russian but Western military products. Eventually, Russia consistently lost a few large tenders on the shipment of military transport airplanes to this country. Instead of our Il-76, Deli preferred to buy six American C-130 Super Hercules. They paid nearly USD 1 billion for them. The amount is astronomical, especially if you take into account that the Il-76 would be considerably cheaper. Our most advanced Mig-35 gave way to the French Rafale, the Mi-28H combat helicopter lost to the American Ah-64 Apache, and the Mi-26T2 heavy transport helicopter lost to the CH-47 Chinook. And this is despite the fact that the Russian plane is more advanced and fully digital, flies one and a half times further, and has double the cargo volume than its American counterpart. But as Victor Kladov stated, Moscow and Deli have more ambitious projects for the future.

For example, on the creation of the second aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. Vikrant, the first built based on our project, is undergoing tests. The second is Storm, the project 23000 nuclear aircraft carrier. The Krylov State Research Center, jointly with Nevskoe Design Bureau, has developed the ship's conceptual design and, as reported by Defense News, a British publication which is an authority in military and industrial policy, it has already been presented to the Indian Ministry of Defense. The full deadweight of the ship is of 100,000 tons, its length is 300 meters, and its width is 40 meters. It can accommodate 4,000–5,000 crew members, and perform combat missions at sea with storm forces of category 6–7. The wing of the cruiser will have up to 100 aircrafts of different classes.

Storm can hold the Mig-29K/KUB naval fighters that Deli has already procured as well as the prospective FGFA (export name of the Advanced Frontline Aircraft System, or T-50 (Indian version): Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft). After several years of negotiations, Deli has decided to ease its requirements for the destroyer and is ready to sign a contract according to which its parties shall invest USD 4 billion each instead of 8 billion as it was proposed earlier. This sum shall include the cost of prototyping, test programming, building the production facilities and assembly lines, storage and auxiliary facilities, as well as the manufacture of at least 200 machines.

“There is a great row around the shipment of Rafale French fighters to India,” said Ruslan Puchov, head of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST). “In violation of the contract, Paris has not only doubled the price per plane but also refuses to transfer Deli the fighter production core technologies. No such problems have emerged with Russia. We have already transferred to India the production of T-90 tanks and Su-30MKI fighters, and we are preparing the site to produce our future prospective helicopters, the Ka-226. I am sure that FGFA production will be also be established.”

As the expert states, the process of building military and technical relations and transfer of technologies is not somehow tied to politics. Providing its own project developments, Moscow gives Deli the right to manage them independently, Ruslan Puchov stated. One of the main examples is the BraMos supersonic anti-ship missile. Pravin Patak, an authorized agent of the company reported to Izvestiya that for the moment the missile has been put into service in the navy and army of India. In September, it will undergo tests as part of the Su-30 MKI fighter armament. With that, Moscow provides India full rights to promote the missile to any markets.

“India remains the largest customer of Russian equipment,” said Vadim Kozyulin. “From 2012 to 2015, 162 contracts on arms procurement were signed including 18 with us and 13 with the Americans. Their number is not impressive, but these are very large contracts that shape the future. Unlike the West, we are not only ready and willing to supply the equipment, but also to transfer the manufacturing technologies, which the West will never do.”