Russia and India are fruitfully cooperating in almost all spheres of military affairs - aircraft building, shipbuilding, engine building, air defense systems, helicopters, armored vehicles. This cooperation began in Soviet times.
But the Russian Federation is gradually giving way to its competitors - Israel, the United States - especially in the field of high technologies. The 20-year failure and degradation of the Russian military-industrial complex did their job.
In the words of the Indian Air Force Marshal: “Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation has reached such a level that today we are jointly implementing the creation of a 5th generation fighter, a military transport aircraft and missiles. Joint projects take our cooperation to a new level, allow us to increase the technological potential of the Indian industry, "- said Air Force Commander of India, Air Chief Marshal Naik, in an interview with Flight International weekly. "Russia is our main partner when it comes to introducing the latest technologies into the Air Force, but the changing nature of armed conflicts requires us to quickly master the most advanced technologies, so we decided to also look at other proposals that exist on the market today."
Western companies fill niches where Russia has nothing to offer
- Delhi has announced a tender for the supply of tanker aircraft worth approximately $ 2 billion. Russia has not launched production of the Il-78 tanker in Ulyanovsk. Therefore, the Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft remains the only option for air tankers. In 2010, the Indian military had already made a decision in favor of this machine, but it was contested by the Ministry of Finance due to the inflated cost of the contract.
- The Indian Air Force ordered 6 American military transport aircraft C-130J "Super Hercules", on February 5, 2011 at the Hindon Air Force Base near Delhi, an official ceremony was held for the commissioning of the first American military-technical cooperation. The contract for the supply of six C-130Js to India was signed in March 2008. The deal amounted to $ 962.45 million. The Indian Ministry of Defense ordered the Hercules in the C-130J-30 version. All ordered transports will be adopted by the Indian Special Operations Forces and will be equipped with various types of additional equipment that will ensure the versatility of the vehicles.
- The Boeing concern also signed a contract with India for the supply of 10 C-17 Globemaster III military vehicles, the cost of which is estimated at no less than $ 2.5 billion. The Russian-Ukrainian An-70 has not yet been put into production.
- In 2009, India bought 8 P-8I Poseidon patrol aircraft developed by the Boeing concern, the cost of which, together with the "accompanying" package, is about $ 2.3 billion. Delhi plans to buy 4 more Poseidons and write off the already obsolete Soviet-made Tu-142M and Il-38SD. The Russian Federation has nothing to offer India here either.
- India is going to buy 4 dock ships, for 160 billion rupees. Prior to that, Delhi bought from the United States for 88 million dollars the decommissioned US Navy landing helicopter dock "Trenton", renamed by the Indians as "Jalashva", and 6 UH-3H Sea King deck helicopters. Russia has nothing to offer here either, Moscow itself buys 4 helicopter carriers from France.
- In July 2010, a contract was signed for the supply of 57 Hawk 132 aircraft (40 for the Air Force, 17 for the Navy) worth 700 million pounds, the aircraft will be assembled under a license in Bangalore, but the lion's share of this amount is about 500 million pounds sterling - will go to the British company "BI Systems".
Washington's position
The White House, like the Pentagon, considers military-technical cooperation with Delhi a very important step - primarily for containing the power of the PRC. The new US National Military Strategy, released on February 8, 2011, states that Washington intends to establish "extensive military cooperation" with Delhi.
The United States is trying not only to sell more finished goods to Delhi, but also to penetrate the Indian domestic market through the creation of various joint ventures. Thus, the Boeing concern, which has already established close business partnerships with HAL, Bharat Electonic Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and the Tata Group, is going to "significantly increase investment in the Indian aerospace industry" over the next decade, and at the same time to export weapons and military equipment to India in the amount of about $ 31 billion.
The leaders of another large American corporation - Pratt & Whitney - announced that they would like to create 5 joint ventures in India that will deal with various programs in the field of aircraft engine building. “One of them will be formed in the coming weeks, and others by the end of the year,” said Vivek Saxena, the company's regional manager for India, who briefed journalists ahead of the opening of the exhibition. "In addition, we are already working closely with 16 Indian companies in the production of selected engine components."
The Sikorsky Aircraft company is going to organize joint development and production of light helicopters in India. “We will announce our plans in this area of cooperation in the very near future,” said Steve Estill, a representative of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. “We prefer to create joint ventures with Indian companies, which provides us with operational control over their work and allows us to create a kind of“production ecosystem”in this area. At the same time, we give preference to private sector companies that have the highest level of technological development and the most trained and motivated staff. A joint venture between Sikorsky Aircraft and the Indian industrial group Tata has already been opened in Hyderabad, which will manufacture components for helicopter engines.
In addition to the United States, Israeli companies are actively cooperating with Delhi, Brazil signed a contract for the supply of 3 AWACS EMV-145 aircraft (in 2008), and British firms are also trying to restore their positions. British firms are trying to sell Eurofighter (Typhoon) fighters to India.
Indian C-130J Super Hercules in trials.
"Cons" of cooperation with the West
- Not only Russian companies have problems in the quality of products and services. For example, the commander of the Indian Army, General Vijay Kumar Singh, called for "caution when concluding contracts for the supply of weapons from the United States," noting the inflated, in his opinion, the cost of the weapons and military equipment purchased and paying attention to the completeness, quality and cost of servicing the samples received by India. The general cited data that two-thirds of the AN-TPQ-37 artillery reconnaissance radar systems purchased from the United States in 2002 are inoperative due to lack of maintenance. Vijay Kumar Singh expressed his bewilderment in this regard, since "despite this, India continues to conclude military deals with the United States, the volume of which has reached several billion dollars."
- The United States, having restored relations with India in military and military-technical terms, interrupted after India's nuclear tests in 1999, is putting pressure on the Indian elite. For example, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke handed a "wish list" to Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Trade Minister Anand Sharma. It contained a list of concessions that the Indian government "should" make "in response" to the withdrawal by the US government late last year (after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington in November 2010) of the ban on cooperation of American specialists in the field of high technology with nine institutes and laboratories under the Defense Research and Development Organization and the Indian Space Research Organization. For example, the United States would like to soften the regime for exporting products of US telecommunications companies to India - today, according to the existing legislation, they are obliged in this case to transfer technologies.
That is, there is no "free cheese", the US wants certain actions for its help. According to a number of Indian military - active and retired - military-technical cooperation with Moscow has always been free from such a political component.
AWACS EMV-145.
P-8I Poseidon.
