Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

India Russia Joint Military exercise (Image credits- Sputnik News) India remains the world's largest importer of weapon systems, it's major chunk coming from Russia. Russia has remained India's largest defence partner. But over the years, India has diversified it's sources to include Israel, USA and France. But even today Russia remains the largest weapons seller to India. Russia has also been trying to diversify it's clientele, but no market can replace the amount of weapon sale that India can and will buy. As India moves to indiginisation of weapon systems, how long Russia will be able to hold on? Russia & India Report argues that it will take India some more decades until it's weapons manufacturing industry matures to a satisfactory level for them to absorb key technologies and deliver world class weapon systems, the time which gives Russia breathing space provided Russia plays their cards correctly. ( The entire article can be read here )  

Sergei Chemezov  ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Сергей Березов) Source- Russia & India Report  Russia, which has signed deals worth over $12 billion after the annual Russia-India summit held earlier this month, hopes to finalise a few more major projects shortly. The defence deals signed include India’s lease of a second nuclear submarine, purchase of five S-400 ‘Triumf’ missile defence systems, four frigates and joint manufacture of the Ka-226 helicopters. As it pitches for more projects, Russia is calling itself not just a business partner but an "ally" who has always stood by India, including during its "darkest hours". Among the new deals Russia is pushing is a multi-billion dollar deal for the P75-I project, in which six conventional submarines are to be built with Air Independent Propulsion systems. It is also looking at India’s next aircraft carrier project, along with a deal to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircra

INS Vikramaditya underway ( Image credits- Indian Navy) Source- Russia & India report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha India wants two combat ready aircraft carriers available, on its east and west coasts, at any given time. Carrier construction, however, has not kept in step with this lofty ambition. The Cabinet Committee on Security gave approval for the construction of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) in May 1999, but the first of these two floating airfields, the INS Vikrant, is expected to be fully launch ready only in 2023. The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India’s report titled ‘Union Defence Services Navy and Coast Guard’ tabled on July 26, 2016, says the IAC programme has suffered delays because of drastic revisions right through the carrier’s timeline. Ship construction involves the following stages; production, keel laying, launch, outfitting, basin trials, contractor sea trials, and final machinery trials. Currently, the carrier is a

IAF SU-30 MKI ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- Russia& India Report Author-  Topwar.ru India has accelerated negotiations to begin the modernization of 194 Su-30MKI fighters, worth $ 8 billion, with Russia, reports the Defence News portal. The Indian Defence Ministry plans to upgrade the status of these fighters to 5th generation aircraft. The updated aircraft will be named ‘Super Sukhoi’. "The Russian delegation visited New Delhi in early July to discuss the modernization of the aircraft. The contract should be signed within the next four to six months," Defence News reported, quoting its source in the Defence Ministry. Why the BrahMos armed Sukhoi is bad news for India’s enemies The source said India was planning to upgrade 272 fighters in all and appeared confident that the programme "will not hurt the project of joint development of FGFA (fifth generation fighter aircraft) costing $ 25 billion”. However, retired Air Mars

Russian Air Force TU-22 M Bomber ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Dmitriy Pichugin) Source- Russia & India Report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha The Indian Air Force has a variety of specialised fighters, ground attack jets and multirole aircraft in its fleet, but a strategic bomber has never figured in its war plans. According to the Russian wire service Interfax, that could change as India’s Ministry of Defence has reportedly sought to buy four Tupolev Tu-22M3 maritime strike bombers from Russia. This isn’t the first time reports have surfaced that India is interested in acquiring this fearsome Cold Warrior – codenamed Backfire by NATO. According to the Federation of American scientists, “In December 1999 it was announced that India would lease four Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers, with the aircraft slated to arrive in India as early as June 2000.” They never did. However, the first time the Backfire was set to fly into the subcontinent was in mid-1971 when Russ

KPV heavy machine gun ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / George Shuklin) Source- Russia & India Report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha India’s resurgent defence industry manufactures a bunch of high profile weapons platforms under licence from Russia. These include the Sukhoi-30 MKI air dominance fighter, the T-90 “Flying Tank” and stealthy Krivak III (Talwar) class frigates. These high-profile weapons provide the Indian armed forces a decisive edge. At the same time, there are several Russian weapons that are critical elements of India’s war fighting strategy. Some of these platforms have been produced in the thousands but rarely merit a mention. PK machine gun The PK (Pulemyot Kalashnikova or "Kalashnikov's Machinegun") is a 7.62 mm light vehicle-mounted machine gun used by India’s frontline infantry. As well as a general purpose machine gun, the PK is used as a co-axial weapon on India’s Russian origin platforms like the T-90 and T-72 tan

BRICS heads of State ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author-  Roberto Stuckert Filho) Source- Russia& India Report Author- Nilova Roy Chaudhaury , RIR The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) calendar year is packed with more than 50 meetings across a whole range of sectors which are held in the run-up to the Summit of leaders from all the five member countries. The BRICS Working Group on Energy Saving & Energy Efficiency just concluded their pre-Summit meeting (July 4 and 5) in which they deliberated on how to increase cooperation in energy saving and energy efficiency within BRICS. During the deliberations, officials from India, Russia, China, South Africa and Brazil made presentations on measures taken to save energy, improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint Among the main areas of cooperation and a key objective of BRICS is energy cooperation through joint research and technology projects. The meeting was a foll

IAF SU-30 MKI ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- Russia & India Report Author- Rakesh Krishnan Simha India has signalled its intent to strike enemy targets with devastating force early on in a conflict. On June 25 a modified Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft carried a Brahmos-A (Air) supersonic cruise missile aloft for the first time, marking an important milestone in the development of the missile ahead of further flights and firing tests. The twin-seat multirole fighter took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd airport in Bengaluru and conducted a 45 minute sortie with the missile attached to its underbelly. Developed jointly by India's Defence Research & Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, Brahmos-A is a modified variant of its basic configuration. "It features several design refinements, which include a lighter propulsion system (reduced to 2,500 kg from 3,000 kg) as well as redesigned fins and nose c

Image credits- Indian Navy Source- Russia & India Report Author- Sputnik The Indian military ships have arrived in the Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok on an unofficial visit, where they will be staying for four days, the Russian Eastern Military District's press service said Monday. "Today a group of ships of the Indian Navy arrived in Vladivostok on an unofficial visit," district's spokesman Igor Maiborodov said. Indian sailors were met with repeated salute by the Pacific Fleet command, the honor guard company and orchestra of the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet. The sides pointed out the increased communications between the countries’ fleets. The Indian delegation is set to lay wreathes to the eternal flame at the memorial complex of Military Honor of Pacific Fleet, participate in sport competitions with their Russian counterparts and take part in a number of cultural events. First published by Sputnik . © RUSSIA &am