The Indian Ministry of Defense has published an official statement on the supply of foreign military equipment to the country. It turned out, as a TASS correspondent reports from Delhi, that Russia is confidently occupying the first line among India's partners in military-technical cooperation (MTC). From the 2012/13 to 2014/15 fiscal year, which begins in India on April 1 and ends twelve months later on March 31, Moscow sent its military equipment to the Indians for 340 billion rupees (more than $ 5 billion). The second place in this indicator is taken by the United States. During this time, they managed to earn 300 billion rupees in the Indian market, or 4.4 billion dollars.
In fact, the same situation has developed with the concluded arms contracts. Of the 67 agreements for the purchase of weapons with foreign countries, 18 belong to the Russian Federation, 13 to the United States of America and six to France. The assertions of self-confident Western analysts that “Russia is losing the Indian market”, “Cooperation between Delhi and Moscow is receding into the background”, “Russian weapons have become unnecessary in the Indian army” and other similar statements made in the headlines of the American and European media and supported by the so-called analytical reports from research centers in the United States, such as Stratfor, turned out to be, as one would expect, another fake. By means of unfair competition or, if this phenomenon is given a sharper sound, by the continuation of the information war against our country.
SURPRISES WITHOUT SURPRISES
True, there was no surprise in the official announcement of the Indian Ministry of Defense about the leadership of Russian manufacturers of weapons and military equipment in the local arms market for domestic specialists. More than 70% of tanks, self-propelled artillery systems, multiple launch rocket systems, fighters, bombers, attack aircraft, early warning and control aircraft, helicopters, aircraft carriers, frigates, nuclear and diesel submarines, missile ships, coastal defense systems in service with Indian ground forces, air force and navy - Russian and Soviet production. To this day, 40% of the military equipment in the Indian army is made in Russia or assembled under a Russian license at local factories. In aviation, this share is 80%, in the navy - 75%. Therefore, to say that Russia is losing the Indian market is a manifestation of incompetence or deliberate lies. But it is also absurd to claim a Russian monopoly in military-technical cooperation between India and foreign countries. She never was, no, and she is useless. Neither Delhi nor Moscow.
And when Russia in the Western media is gloatingly reproached that it lost the Indian tender for the supply of attack helicopters to Delhi, they never remember that India had previously bought from Russia one and a half hundred Mi-17V-5 transport turntables, and is going to produce 200 Russian light helicopters Ka-226T, is interested in our anti-aircraft missile systems S-400, Tor-M2KM, missile-cannon "Pantsir-S1", other "iron" shooting and protecting the country. Apparently, for some reason it is unprofitable to bring such information to the attention of the Western public.
Another thing is that the Indian leadership has set a principled and ambitious task for its army and defense-industrial complex. One of its principles is to diversify the purchase of military equipment, or, in other words, not to put all your eggs in one basket, to eliminate dependence on one country, even if it is as friendly, open and responsible as India's long-term partner Russia. The second principle that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi insists on and actively promotes is not to buy military equipment abroad, but to produce it at local enterprises. Equip your own army with the most advanced weapons and combat support systems, as well as buy licenses and technologies for their production, release it at Indian factories, strengthening and improving the local defense-industrial complex and creating a groundwork for entering the international arms market, for obtaining export orders for third parties countries. Made in India.
WANT IS NOT HARMFUL
There are certain difficulties with the implementation of both principles. Although with the first in Delhi, things are more or less normal. Several arms contracts with the USA and France, which we have already mentioned, as well as with Germany, Israel and even Brazil speak for themselves. As well as the tenders that our competitors have won. But their implementation does not always meet the requirements that the Indians put in the competition. And the example with the French multifunctional fighter "Rafale" is especially striking here.
Recall that the 2012 tender for the supply of 126 fighters to India with a total value of $ 10 billion, in which five aircraft projects participated, including the American F-16 and F-18, as well as the Russian MiG-35, were won by the French. According to its terms, the winner was to supply part of the aircraft to the Indian Air Force from their factories, and the rest, a much larger part, to be produced at Indian enterprises, transferring them not only a license, but also their technologies. But the company "Dassault Aviation", the creator of "Raphael", flatly refused to transfer the license and technology to the Indians. Moreover, it has tripled the price of its fighters. And so far, despite the many years of negotiations between Delhi and Paris, the visit of the Prime Minister of India and the President of France to that and the other capital, the consent of the Indians to purchase not 126 fighters, but only 36, despite the contracts signed on this matter, the supply of aircraft to India never started. The parties do not agree on the price of this car in any way.
The dispute is around one billion dollars. The French go to get 9 billion, the Indians insist on 8. It is interesting that 40 multifunctional Su-30MKI fighters that India buys from Russia in addition to those 210 similar machines that are already in service with the country's Air Force and which are assembled from Russian vehicle kits in Indian corporation HAL, will cost $ 3 billion. And this is not a dumping of Moscow, but the price of a long-term and productive partnership that has been going on between the two countries for almost 60 years.
Russia is the only state in the world that, in the system of military-technical cooperation with India, has adopted the principle “Made in India” announced by Prime Minister Modi as a guide to action.
Take the same Su-30MKI multipurpose fighter. It was created in Russia especially for India. And the letter "I" in its name specifically indicates this. Moreover, the production of this aircraft, with French, Israeli and Indian avionics on board, has been deployed at Indian enterprises under a Russian license and using our technologies. So far, Indian specialists cannot fully master it and part of the aircraft components are supplied to them from Russia, but every year this share is decreasing, making India one of the world's leading aviation powers.
Roughly the same story with the T-90S tank. This vehicle was developed at Uralvagonzavod and is supplied to the Russian army. But India is the first customer. Moreover, she not only buys the tank "Vladimir", as it is called in the army, but also manufactures it at its own factories. Again, under a Russian license and with the supply of a certain part of vehicle kits from Russian factories. The Indian army already has about 350 T-90S tanks. There is information that Delhi wants to increase their number to one and a half thousand. And this despite the fact that for 10 years he has been making his own tank "Arjun", which he is very proud of. But it is one thing, a tank for pride and for a parade, another - for military operations. And with "Vladimir" there are few who can compare. Recently, Islamic State militants circulated a video in you tube showing how they shoot T-90Ss from the American anti-tank missile system BGM-71 TOW in Syria. It would be better if they did not do this: the missile hit the turret of the tank, but did not cause any harm to it. Thanks to the terrorists for advertising Russian weapons. But the author has slightly distracted from the main topic.
NOT ONLY SCREWDRIVER ASSEMBLY
The principle of "Made in India" is especially clearly manifested in the Russian-Indian supersonic rocket "BrahMos". It was created on the basis of the domestic anti-ship missile P-800 "Onyx" or its export version "Yakhont" with the participation of Indian engineers and designers and bears a name composed of the names of two rivers - Brahmaputra and Moscow. The missile is being fired at the enterprises of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Some components are made by the military-industrial complex NPO Mashinostroyenia from Reutov near Moscow, the rest are made by DRDO.
The Indians put this missile on their Talvar-class frigates, by the way, built in Russia, at the Severnaya Verf plant in St. Petersburg and Yantar in Kaliningrad, on modernized diesel submarines of the Varshavyanka family, use systems as missiles coastal defense, suspended on pylons of air carriers - Tu-142 and Il-38SD aircraft (all Russian-made). A new, lightweight and shortened version of the missile for the Su-30MKI fighter is currently being tested. Delhi is very proud of this product and is going to export it to third countries. He plans to make a hypersonic missile on its basis, in which Russian specialists also help him. And we can talk about such joint projects for a very long time.
It is impossible not to recall the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, modernized for India from the Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Gorshkov, on which domestic MiG-29K / KUB fighters are deployed. About the Vikrant aircraft carrier built at Indian shipyards and launched last year, the design of which was developed by the Nevsky Design Bureau of St. Petersburg, and the tender for the construction of a new aircraft carrier, which was announced in Delhi. Apart from our country, the USA and France are taking part in the competition for its construction, but experts are afraid that the Indians will choose us. Our ship has one, but the most significant advantage - we are ready to provide India not only the aircraft carrier itself, but also the technology for its construction.
And this, according to domestic experts, is one of the key points in the construction of the ship. They remind that the United States has never passed on its own developments to anyone. Defense News, a well-known military weekly, reported that Delhi and Washington recently discussed cooperation on aircraft carrier technology, but Indian Defense Ministry sources said no agreement had been reached. Similar difficulties exist with the French, who, as we know, are not going to share with Indian specialists even the technologies for the production of Rafale fighters, although they are obliged to do so under the terms of the tender they won. And Russia is not only ready to build the aircraft carrier itself and transfer the necessary technologies to the Indian side, but also to create a shipborne version of the fifth generation fighter, on which Moscow and Delhi are working together today. In addition, they already have the MiG-29K naval fighter, which is ready for use not only on the Vikramaditya, but also on any other ship of this class.
Aircraft carriers are not the only warships that Russia has shared with India. Our country is the only one in the world that has leased the multipurpose nuclear submarine K-152 "Nerpa" (project 971) to another state, namely Delhi, the Indians call it "Chakra". Armed with torpedoes, it is considered one of the quietest among similar submarines. The sailors of the fraternal country use it not only to master combat skills, but also to study the possibilities of building the same ship at their shipyards. And by the way, they are going to lease another similar nuclear submarine, which is now being built at the Amur shipyard.
TRUST DOES NOT PAY OFF MONEY
There are many reasons for this unprecedented cooperation in the military-technical sphere between Russia and India. One of them is that over the past sixty-odd years we have never had any serious contradictions with Delhi. Regardless of who headed its government - Conservatives, Democrats or representatives of the National Congress Party. We have always had an open, mutually respectful, sincere relationship of friendship and trust in each other. As they say, both in joy and in trouble, we have always been together. So, I'm sure it will continue. And when today jealous and, frankly, envious voices are heard across the ocean or in Europe, claiming that cooperation in the military, military-technical field and friendship between Moscow and Delhi fades into the background, or even into the background, such statements can be just laugh.
Yes, we can lose this or that tender. For a variety of reasons. And because the Indians want to get and master the weapons of another country, not only Russia. And therefore, in order not to create monopolies and dependence on one supplier. But the main thing is not a victory, but a trend, and it is on the side of the current and tomorrow's Russian-Indian cooperation. And to everyone who hopes that it will be cut off somewhere for some reason and for some reason, we will answer, as is customary in Odessa:
- You won't wait!
