The current Ukraine-Russia War has changed the dimensions of the world and has impacted every country – Directly or Indirectly. We all don’t know how long this war will continue, but everyone is clear that there will be long-term implications. India is also trying to walk a tight rope in this situation by negotiating its relations with the United States and other countries supporting Ukraine on one side, and the historically dependent and strategic partner Russia on the other. The world is aware of this friendship which has faced many tough times and has passed every test. But this would be one of the toughest tests for India in this relationship. The response of the US and other western countries to this Russian military equipment usage in Ukraine in the form of sanctions on Russia will definitely make this test even more difficult.
Moreover, India is importing some of the major and crucial goods and items from Russia. Things like military hardware, Russian Military equipment, and technology are of the major imports. If this situation extends for longer than expected, then it might affect India’s defense operations in long run. In this article, we will try to understand why India is dependent on Russia for Russian military equipment and the recent deals between India and Russia which might get affected due to this situation.
How did it start with Russia?
Post-Independence, India was dependent solely on the British, and other Western countries for its arms imports. Fast-shifting geopolitical realities and the Friendship of Pakistan with China and the US made the policy-creators realize that this issue needs a solution and that too at a quicker pace. Indian defense procurement selected Russia over others which resulted in major imports starting coming in.
India started to import numerous weapons systems from the USSR, making them our biggest defense importer. India imported both basic and advanced weapons systems. In fact, they have given some of the utmost sensitive and vital weapons platforms that India required at regular intervals. Some of them are nuclear submarines, armored tanks, artillery guns, fighter jets, helicopters and transport carriers, aircraft carriers, and missiles.
However, the indigenous capability improvement persisted as a point of worry. This resulted in the licensed manufacturing of Russian military equipment being introduced. This was done keeping in mind having sufficient resources to meet our supplies in the future. Though at that time it was not realized that licensed manufacturers may increase the numbers the absence of ‘Know how’ of this Russian military equipment will leave us behind in the technological loop. This cycle was sustained and we in some way could never manage to reach the desired state of equipping manufacturing. We continued to import from the World – Majorly from USSR and later Russia.
The dissolution of the USSR facilitated the procurement policymakers to look for replacements. India started increasing its engagements with other world defense equipment providers.
These imports of Russian military equipment have declined gradually since 2014. Some estimates show that almost 70-75% of its military still operates on the Russian military equipment that was manufactured or firstly designed in Russia or USSR.
India – one of the biggest Military Equipment marketplace
The Defence Equipment Sector of India is a strategically significant industry. In the year 2019, the total budget allocated for the Indian military was $60.9 billion whereas for the FY 2020-21 it was raised by mere less than 7% to US$65.86 Billion. Through the “Make In India” campaign India has been promoting greater indigenization of military hardware as India imports about 70 percent (by value) of its high-tech defense equipment such as aircraft, submarines, ships, missile systems, etc. and the main exporters are Russia, Japan, Israel, and the United States.
The United States is the largest exporter of military equipment in the world followed by Russia. As per the data given by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), From 2016 to 2020 – America’s share in the worldwide arms business was 37 percent, as compared to 20 percent of Russia’s. SIPRI is an International organization that tracks the global arms business and military spending.
For India, Russia is the biggest arms exporter, and for Russia, India is the biggest arms importer. Between 2000 and 2020,
- Russia’s share was around 66.5 percent of India’s arms imports.
- Of the $53.85 billion paid by India during this time on arms imports, $35.82 billion was given to Russia. For the same period, imports from the US were $4.4 billion, and from Israel were US$ 4.1 billion.
Russia’s share in Indian military equipment imports decreased by almost 50 percent between 2016 and 2020. Still, they enjoy the tag of the largest single importer.
Changing Trends Post 2014?
India in the recent past has made a focused effort to increase the weapons importing base to not only other countries but also domestically as well. The recent changes in the policy are supporting and promoting domestic private manufacturers to enter this industry.
SIPRI pointed out, in its international weapons deal trends report last year that, India’s arms imports between 2011–15 and 2016–20, decreased by almost 33 percent.
Russian imports dropped by around 53 percent between the earlier specified two periods. This reduced its share of total Indian weapon imports from 70 to 49 percent. India has to note the point that it should diversify its military equipment importing base and not become too dependent on any single nation, as that county can leverage this and can exploit us.
Recently, France and Israel were also added to the kitty becoming the second and third largest arms providers to India from 2016–20, as per the SIPRI report.
Major Indo-Russian Military Equipment Deals in recent times
At present, there are two main defense deals between India and Russia that may be affected by the current conditions.
The firstly, and most important one, is the agreement to procure five numbers of the state-of-the-art S-400 Triumf air-defense system. This system of air defense is considered to be one of the most advanced systems in the world. India finalized the deal for five numbers for almost $5 billion in the year 2018. The first set of these five numbers was delivered in December last year, which has been installed at one of the Indian Air Force bases in Punjab. This deal has been under the radar of American sanctions. Though there are no such comments from the US on it yet. But the recent sanctions on Russia could raise alarm for India.
India and Russia had also signed a deal to assemble and manufacture around 6 lakh AK 203 rifles in Amethi’s factory.
Some other project in which Russia is involved is
- Manufacturing six AIP-powered conventional submarines for the Indian Navy under the P75-I project. Russia has quoted beside four other global bidders. India has yet not finalized its decision on this deal.
- India and Russia also discussed having a lease agreement of two nuclear-ballistic submarines, named Chakra 3 and Chakra 4. The first unit out of the two was planned to be delivered by the year 2025.
How this article would help you in SSB Preparation?
Hope this article would have given you insights into the current situation of India and its dependence on Russian Military Equipment. This may be one of the main reasons why the Indian Government is not taking a strong stance against Russia. Despite International pressure at various forums like UNSC, International Court of Justice, etc India has maintained its stance neutral stance.
This article would help you in getting the details of Indo-Russian Relations. It will also help you in getting information about Indian Defence Equipment Industry. Both these topics – Indo-Russian relations and Indian Defence Equipment Industry are one of the repeated topics of your Lecturette or GD at your SSB Interview.
In case of any query or you need any new article on any specific topic, do mention it in the comments section.