New Delhi, March 06: The ongoing war with Ukraine will not affect the supply of weapons from Russia to India as Russia will give training squadron of Air Missile Defense System S-400 to India this month.
The second S-400 squadron from Russia will be delivered in June. Just last week, Indian Air Force (IAF) Vice Chief Air Marshal Sandeep Singh had said that India-Russia relations are already fine and will continue to be better. Therefore, under ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, no problem will be allowed in the supply of equipment and weapons used in the manufacture of indigenous weapons.
It is worth mentioning that the India had signed a deal with Russia to buy five air defense systems S-400 for $5.43 billion or Rs 40,000 crore. There are eight launchers in five regiments (flights) and two missiles in each launcher.
However, India has also paid the first instalment of $ 800 million for this in 2019. The defense ministers of Russia and India had finalized the S-400 deal on 6 December during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India in December last year. After this, the first consignment of the powerful air defense system S-400 made in Russia reached India in December itself. This system has been deployed in the Punjab sector. From here it can deal with threats from both Pakistan and China.
The remaining four air missile defense systems from Russia were promised to be handed over in 2022, but after the war with Ukraine 10 days ago, doubts started looming over their supply.
Expressing this concern in a press conference on 02 March, in response to a question by Hindustan News, Vice Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Sandeep Singh had said that the war with Ukraine had no effect on the supply of S-400 to India. Will not.
He had admitted that India was worried about the start of the war with Ukraine, but later the Russian Defense Ministry assured that the relations between India and Russia were already fine. Will be better in future, so under ‘Make in India’ and ‘Self-reliant India’, no problem will be allowed in the supply of equipment and weapons used in the manufacture of indigenous weapons.
Indeed, given its reliance on Russian-origin weapon systems and platforms, India now faces the daunting challenge of maintaining high operational military preparedness against China due to US-led sanctions against Russia.
Indian Armed Forces are undertaking large-scale emergency procurement of arms supplies and spares following several Chinese incursions into Eastern Ladakh in May, 2020.
In response to a question, Air Marshal Singh had also told that India has developed a lot of parts of LCA Tejas Mark One, Multi Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) and fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in India itself. , so now foreign dependence is reduced.
The relations between India and Russia are very old in the matter of purchase of military weapons. India started procuring military weapons from Russia in 1963 when the Indian Air Force procured more than 1200 Russian MiG-21s.
Gradually, these relations became stronger and by 2021, India has purchased military weapons worth 500 thousand crores from Russia. Developed in collaboration with India and Russia, BrahMos is the most advanced missile system ever, which has made India a leader in missile technology.
Meanwhile, Philippines has signed a deal to buy BrahMos missile from India for Rs 414 crore. India has bought fighter Sukhoi-30 from Russia which is being upgraded in India itself. India has signed a deal worth Rs 5,124 crore from Russia for over six lakh AK-203 assault rifles.
