Russia supplied 65% of India’s weapons purchases of more than $60 billion during the last two decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but the Ukraine war hastened the impetus to diversify its weapons base
India is seeking to distance itself from its largest arms supplier after Russia’s ability to supply munitions and spares was hobbled by the war in Ukraine, but must step carefully to avoid pushing Moscow closer to China, Indian sources said.
The world’s biggest arms importer is slowly turning West as the United States looks to strengthen ties in the Indo-Pacific region, hoping to contain an ascendant China by weaning the South Asian nation off a traditional dependence on Russia.
Russia supplied 65% of India’s weapons purchases of more than $60 billion during the last two decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but the Ukraine war hastened the impetus to diversify its weapons base.
“We are not likely to sign any major military deal with Russia,” said Nandan Unnikrishnan, a Russia expert at New Delhi think tank the Observer Research Foundation. “That would be a red line for Washington.”
That view comes despite Moscow’s offers, described by four Indian government sources, among them a senior security official who recently retired, as including platforms such as the most advanced Kamov helicopters and Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets, with the added fillip of joint manufacturing in India.
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Udenrigs- og forsvarsministerierne i Indien og Rusland reagerede ikke på anmodninger om kommentarer.
Rusland har offentligt opfordret Indien til at styrke forsvarsbåndene, men premierminister Narendra Modi har vendt sit fokus mod indenlandsk produktion med vestlig teknologi, sagde eksperter og embedsmænd.
Such efforts would better fit Modi’s “Make in India” programme to encourage domestic manufacturing, as he makes a rare bid for a third term in general elections due by May.
Indien forventer at bruge næsten 100 milliarder dollars på forsvarsordrer i løbet af det næste årti, har dets forsvarsminister sagt.
Sidste år underskrev Indien og USA en aftale med General Electric om at producere motorer i Indien til at drive deres kampfly, den første amerikanske koncession til en ikke-allieret.
They also plan to “fast-track” technology co-operation and co-production in areas ranging from air combat to intelligence, they said at the time.
Further driving India’s ties with the United States is disquiet over China, as their troops are embroiled in a standoff on their Himalayan frontier since 2020, when one of their bloodiest clashes in five decades killed 24 soldiers.
De atombevæbnede naboer udkæmpede en krig i 1962, men deres grænse, der er mere end 2,000 miles (3,200 km) lang, er stadig omstridt.
Rusland tættere på Beijing
Indien skal gå på en fin linje i forhold til Rusland, som den største køber af dets våben og siden 2022 en af ​​de største købere af dets olie. At standse en sådan handel ville skubbe Moskva tættere på Beijing, den eneste anden store økonomi, det beskæftiger sig med.
“Arms purchase buys you influence,” said the retired security official. “By shutting them out you make them subservient to China.”
Trade with Russia in energy and other areas would help “keep it as far away as possible from China,” added Unnikrishnan, the analyst.
Russia’s arms exports have largely stabilised since the Ukraine war’s early disruptions, which fuelled concerns about India’s operational readiness, the officials said, but the fears have not entirely dissipated.
“As the Ukraine war stretches, it raises questions if Russia will be able to give us spare parts,” said Swasti Rao, Eurasia expert at the state-run Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “It is fuelling the diversification.”
Indien ser på franske jetfly efter sit seneste hangarskib og ønsker at lave ubåde med fransk, tysk eller spansk teknologi og kampfly med amerikanske og franske motorer, sagde kilderne.
“India’s multi-alignment will continue, to straddle ties with Russia and balance it with the West, but it will not be an equal distribution,” Rao said.
Russisk push
Den russiske udenrigsminister Sergei Lavrov lavede det seneste fremstød for flere forsvarsaftaler med Indien den 27. december under en fælles pressekonference med den indiske modpart S. Jaishankar, der var på besøg i Moskva.
Lavrov said he discussed with Jaishankar prospects for military and technical co-operation, including joint production of weapons, adding that Russia was also ready to support India’s goal of increasing domestic production.
Jaishankar svarede, at båndene var meget stærke, med tovejshandel på rekordhøjde, takket være aftaler med energi, gødning og stålfremstilling af kul, men stoppede med at nævne forsvar.
Der har ikke været fremskridt med en 2015-aftale for de to nationer om i fællesskab at fremstille Kamov Ka-226T helikoptere i Indien, hvor 200 går til dets forsvarsstyrker.
I stedet begyndte Indien i 2022 at indsætte kamphelikoptere lavet af statsdrevne Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Weapons, from Soviet or Russian-origin tanks to an aircraft carrier and surface-to-air missile systems, make up more than 60% of India’s military hardware.
New Delhi vil kræve russiske reservedele til deres vedligeholdelse og reparation i næsten to årtier, sagde embedsmænd.
De laver i fællesskab BrahMos krydsermissilet og planlægger at producere AK-203 rifler i Indien.
Men hikke har inkluderet kommentarer sidste år fra det indiske luftvåben om, at Rusland ikke havde været i stand til at opfylde sit løfte om levering af en større platform, som det ikke identificerede.
And there has been more than a year’s delay in Russia’s delivery of parts of an air defence system India bought in 2018 for $5.5 billion, two Indian military officials said.
Denne rapport er automatisk genereret fra et nyhedsbureau