In May, the main news regarding the export of Russian arms was information about India's interest in the Russian S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. According to the RBC media holding, whose journalists refer to their own sources, Russia is ready to supply India with S-400 complexes worth $ 6 billion. Also in May, Russia continued to fulfill previously concluded contracts for the supply of aviation equipment, and two new contracts were signed with Kazakhstan for Mi-35M helicopters and Su-30SM fighters.
India may acquire several regimental S-400 kits for $ 6 billion
Russia is ready to supply India with several regimental sets of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems worth at least $ 6 billion, RBC reports, citing two sources in the Russian Defense Ministry. “We can talk about 5 regiments, these are 10 divisions,” the first source told reporters. India may be supplied with "4 regimental sets of S-400 and a regiment of mixed composition with ammunition and spare parts," said the second source of RBC in the Ministry of Defense. According to him, on May 28, a corresponding memorandum of intent was signed, the volume of the entire contract amounted to 6, 2 billion dollars.
The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, when asked by RBC to comment on the information that appeared, replied that "the negotiations are still ongoing." The Almaz-Antey concern, which is engaged in the serial production of S-400 complexes, declined to comment on this. Later, the Indian press also began writing about the possible deal. So on May 31, the Hindustan Time edition, citing its own source in the Indian Ministry of Defense, wrote that the Indian military had applied to the Cabinet's Supreme Security Committee to obtain permission to conduct this transaction. Hindustan Time writes that New Delhi is ready to promote the acquisition of S-400 complexes in Russia, despite the US position on this issue. The Trump administration had previously warned India about the deal, stating the potential for limiting military-technical cooperation between the United States and India. At the same time, the deal is estimated at $ 5.5 billion in Hindustan Time.
Information about a possible deal between Moscow and Delhi appeared after RIA Novosti and Defense news reported that negotiations between Russia and India on the purchase of S-400 Triumph air defense systems were deadlocked due to the high cost of equipment and refusal Russia in the transfer of some technologies. In turn, a source familiar with the negotiations from the Indian side told RBC that the agreement on the deal on the S-400 complexes is at the final stage. According to him, the only stumbling block is the risk that India could come under US sanctions. Back in August 2017, the United States passed the Federal Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), according to this law, US sanctions may be imposed against countries that conduct major transactions with Russian defense enterprises. The source noted that at present, representatives of India are trying to negotiate with the United States so that no sanctions are imposed on the purchase of the S-400.
The Indian agency PTI, citing a high-ranking Indian official who took part in the negotiations with Russia, also wrote that the discussion of the "financial part" of the deal was over. Moscow and New Delhi are likely to announce the deal ahead of a bilateral summit scheduled for October 2018, the agency said.
The chances that the contract between the countries will nevertheless be signed are quite high, says Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the magazine Arsenal Otechestvo. According to him, currently no air defense system in the world can compete with the Russian S-400 Triumph system. Andrei Frolov, editor-in-chief of the Arms Export magazine, believes that, apparently, negotiations between the countries are indeed at the final stage. "As far as I understand, not all questions have been completely resolved, but I think that in 2018 this contract will be signed - no matter which month," Frolov said, recalling that earlier Turkey had acquired 4 anti-aircraft missile divisions from Russia. complexes S-400 worth 2.5 billion dollars.
Kazakhstan signed a contract for the supply of 8 Su-30SM fighters
Moscow and Astana at the CADEX-2018 exhibition signed a new contract for the supply of a batch of Su-30SM multifunctional fighters for the Air Force of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This was reported by the TASS agency with reference to Arman Ramazanov of the general director of the Kazspetsexport company. According to TASS, citing a military-diplomatic source, under the new contract, Kazakhstan will receive 8 new Su-30SM fighters. As specified in the Irkut corporation (it is engaged in the assembly of Su-30SM fighters), a new batch of combat aircraft will be delivered to Kazakhstan by 2020, the fighters will have to replenish the Su-30SM fleet of the armed forces of Kazakhstan, these aircraft have been in service with the country since 2015 …
The parties signed the previous contract for the supply of 12 such fighters last year as part of the Army-2017 forum. Then Vladimir Kozhin, Assistant to the President of Russia on Military-Technical Cooperation, spoke about this. The super-maneuverable multi-functional Su-30SM fighter of the 4+ generation is equipped with a phased array radar, engines with thrust vector control and a forward horizontal tail. The aircraft is able to use modern types of high-precision and advanced weapons of the "surface-to-air" and "air-to-surface" classes. Like the rest of the Su-30 family, the aircraft is in demand on the international arms market.
According to the bmpd blog, earlier Kazakhstan has already signed three contracts for a total of 23 Su-30SM fighters produced by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAZ) of PJSC Irkut Corporation. The first contract worth about 5 billion rubles for the supply of 4 Su-30SM fighters was signed in 2014, the contract was completed in April 2015. In December 2015, Kazakhstan signed a second contract for the supply of 7 Su-30SM fighters, four of them have already been delivered, the delivery of the remaining three fighters is expected by the end of 2018. In August last year, Russia and Kazakhstan signed a framework agreement for the supply of 12 more Su-30SM fighters. It is not yet clear whether the now concluded contract for the supply of 8 fighters is part of the previously concluded framework contract or additional to it. All 8 Su-30SM fighters already delivered to Kazakhstan are in service with the 604th Aviation Base of the Air Defense Forces (SVO) of Kazakhstan in Taldy-Kurgan.
Kazakhstan signed a contract for the supply of 4 Mi-35M helicopters
Moscow and Astana have signed a new contract for the supply of 4 multi-purpose attack helicopters Mi-35M, the TASS agency reports with reference to the deputy head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, Vladimir Drozhzhov. He noted that a new contract for the supply of four Mi-35M helicopters to Kazakhstan was signed this year, without specifying the timing of the delivery of new helicopters to the customer.
In 2016, the countries have already signed a contract for the supply of four Mi-35M helicopters, the helicopters are planned to be delivered in 2018. In total, Kazakhstan, according to information today, should receive 8 such helicopters from Russia. The Mi-35M multipurpose attack helicopter is designed to destroy armored vehicles and provide fire support for ground forces, it can also be used to transport various cargo and transport personnel, and perform other tasks. The helicopter is a deep modernization of the Mi-24V helicopter, it is able to perform combat missions around the clock in various meteorological conditions, using modern high-precision weapons.
Nigeria received another Mi-35M helicopter
On April 30, 2018, the official group of the Nigerian Air Force on the Facebook social network published the news about the delivery of two new Mi-35M combat helicopters of the new construction to the Makurdi air base by the An-124-100 Ruslan Russian transport aircraft. The delivery of helicopters to Nigeria was carried out by a transport aircraft from the JSC State Enterprise 224 Flight Squadron of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to the bmpd blog, earlier, under two contracts concluded in 2014 and 2015 with Rosoboronexport, Nigeria acquired in Russia a total of 12 Mi-35M multipurpose attack helicopters, which are manufactured by Rostvertol in Rostov-on-Don. The first two of the acquired helicopters were transferred to Nigeria in December 2016, and entered service with the Nigerian Air Force in April 2017. The delivery of the remaining 10 helicopters was scheduled for 2018. The first two have now been delivered to Nigeria. Thus, at present, the Nigerian Air Force has received a total of 4 Mi-35M helicopters out of the ordered 12 machines.
Armenia will receive Russian air defense systems "Tor-M2"
According to the information that was presented in the framework of the TV program of the Armenian Defense Ministry "Zinuzh", in a few months the armed forces of this country will receive Russian short-range anti-aircraft missile systems "Tor-M2". Thus, Armenia will continue to actively re-equip with modern Russian-made equipment, REGNUM news agency reported.
It is known that after the implementation of contracts on the first Russian concessional military loan in the amount of $ 200 million, Armenia was offered a second concessional loan in the amount of $ 100 million. According to the former Deputy Minister of Defense of the country Artak Zakaryan, as of December 2017, three contracts were concluded between Russia and Armenia in the area of military-technical cooperation for an amount exceeding $ 100 million (part of the purchases was financed from the Armenian budget). According to Artak Zakaryan, these deliveries were supposed to strengthen the air defense system and the country's forward positions.
Apparently, one of the three signed contracts implied the supply of modern short-range air defense systems "Tor-M2". This air defense system is capable of simultaneously firing at 4 air targets located in an altitude range of 10 meters to 10 kilometers and at a distance of up to 15 kilometers. A distinctive feature of this modification is the ability to fire on the move without stopping, which provides more effective protection of military equipment on the march, as well as an increase in the ammunition load of one launcher to 16 anti-aircraft missiles (the ammunition load has been doubled). Currently, the Tor complex mounted on a tracked chassis is one of the most effective military air defense systems in the world. The main task of the complex is to provide cover for units of the ground forces, including on the march, important military, administrative and economic facilities, key infrastructure facilities. The complex is able to effectively deal with cruise missiles and gliding bombs, modern drones, helicopters and enemy aircraft.
