The Republic of India and the Russian Federation have long held strong ties and eras of close relations at the highest levels between themselves. The Cold War period was the pinnacle of this friendship where India came to an alliance-based corporation with the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and emerged as an all-weather friend of India. Their bilateral ties have been officially labelled as a “special and privileged strategic partnership” which focuses heavily on defence and military collaboration. This cooperation has been in various fields, but the defence sector has a lion’s share. We all know that India has been importing some of the crucial and sensitive military hardware and technology from Russia. Recently there has been a decline in the import of Russian Military Equipment as India is trying to diversify its military equipment imports.
Research conducted by the Stimson Centre – which is a Washington-based think tank, says that 85% of India’s Defence equipment comes from Russia or has originated from its predecessor – the Soviet Union. Though some say that this number is actually 70 to 75%, the reality is that India as a nation is heavily dependent on Russia for its military equipment. This equipment is used in all three military wings – the Army, the Navy & Airforce. In this article let’s find out which are the major Russian Military Equipment that is providing firepower and strength to Indian Defence forces.
Table of Content
The Indian Army
One can say that the Soviet-origin or Russian Military equipment, like tanks, artillery and infantry combat vehicles (ICVs) or even small arms presently provide the Indian Army with its firepower. Though India is trying to diversify its military equipment imports by getting weapons from Israel, the USA, and France but Russian Weapons will continue to dominate the Indian Army for many more years. Below are some of the Russian Military equipment used by the Indian Army
The Armoured and Mechanised Systems
- T-55 Tanks
- T-55 is a Soviet-made Main Battle Tank (MBT).
- Pillboxes are a form of bunkers. The only difference is that they are fairly small and the size is between 6 and 10 square feet.
- The Indian army used T-55 tanks as pillboxes alongside the LOC.
- T-90 Tanks
- The T-90 is a 3rd-gen Russian Main Battle Tank.
- T-90 uses a 125 mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control mechanism, an advanced engine and the gunner’s thermal vision.
- Protecting features comprise a blend of steel and composite armour, Kontakt-5 explosive-reactive armour, smoke grenade dischargers, and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming arrangement.
- Now India has started manufacturing T-90s under licence from Russians without any technology transfer.
- T-72 Tanks
- The T-72 is a Soviet-made Main Battle Tank.
- They are being upgraded or improved by the T-90, which is an advanced version of the T-72B.
- BMP-II
- The BMP-2 is a 2nd-gen, amphibious infantry fighting vehicle which was introduced in the 1980s by the Soviet Union.
- It is a swift, dependable and operative vehicle with sufficient engine power for almost every all-terrain mission.
- India has started manufacturing them under licence manufacturing.
Artillery and missiles
- Konkurs ATGM
- The Konkurs Anti-Tank Guided Missile is a Soviet are SACLOS missile.
- SACLOS stands for Semi-automatic command to line of sight missile.
- Initially, The missile was designed to be fired from vehicles but now it can also be fired from the 9M111 launchers.
- Kornet
- The 9M133 Kornet is a 2nd-gen Russian man-portable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) useful against main battle tanks.
- It was first used by the Russian army in 1998 and is among the most capable Russian Anti-Tank Guided Missiles.
- OSA Surface-to-Air missile (SAM)
- Osa – an extremely mobile, low-altitude, small-range strategic surface-to-air missile (SAM) system established by the Soviet Union in the year the 1960s and was inducted into the Army in 1972.
- It was the first portable air defence missile system integrating its own engagement radars on a single vehicle.
- Pechora SAM
- The S-125 Pechora SAM is a Soviet-made surface-to-air missile.
- It has a two-stage design which makes it more effective against more manoeuvrable targets compared to its predecessors.
- Strela SAM
- The Strela is a shoulder-fired, lighter, surface-to-air missile.
- This Missile falls under the Man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS) category. It was basically designed to target jets flying at low altitudes.
- Tunguska anti-aircraft system
- The Tunguska is a self-driven, anti-aircraft weapon, armed with a surface-to-air gun along with a missile system.
- They are designed to provide round the clock protection for the infantry and armoured regiments against the low-flying jets, helicopters, and cruise missiles in every weather condition.
- Smerch multi-rocket system
- The BM-30 Smerch is a form of multiple rocket launcher.
- Grad multi-rocket system
- The BM-21 ‘Grad’ is a combination of a Soviet truck that is mounted with a 122 mm multiple rocket launcher.
- The combined system of the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket is known as a Grad multiple rocket launcher systems.
- M-46 artillery guns
- The M-46 is a 130 mm artillery field gun that is loaded manually loaded, towed and moved from one place to another.
- They have been one of the longest range artillery systems around, with a range of more than 27 km.
Small arms and air defence guns
- Dragunov SVD
- The Dragunov sniper is a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle that is of 7.62×54mm calibre.
- It originated in the Soviet Union during 1957-63. It has become the standard squad support firearm in many countries.
- Kalashnikov or AKs
- A Kalashnikov rifle or more commonly known as AK is a series of automatic rifles which has evolved and upgraded on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov.
- AK-47 & AK-56 are some of the most common rifles.
- Recently India & Russia have also signed an agreement to jointly manufacture AK-203 rifles in India.
- OSV-96 rifles
- The OSV-96 is a Russian origin semi-automatic precision long-range rifle using 12.7×108mm bullets.
- These rifles are accurate up to a distance of 1800 metres which keeps the shooter out of bound from the range of conventional calibres rifles.
- Shilka anti-air gun
- The ZSU-23-4 ‘Shilka’ is a light armoured Soviet origin self-driven, radar-guided anti-aircraft defence system.
- Named after the Shilka River of Russia, they are also called the “sewing machine” due to the sound it makes while firing.
- NSV Machine gun
- The NSV Machine Gun is a 12.7mm calibre heavy machine gun originating from the Soviet Union.
- After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan go the licence to make these guns.
- At present, The NSV machine guns are being manufactured in Bulgaria, India, Poland and Yugoslavia under licence.
The Indian Navy
The Indian Navy is also heavily dependent on the Russian Military Equipment system for Hardware and Technology. The Imports of the Indian Navy Equipment can be classified into category
- Surface weapons
- Submarines
- Fighters
Surface Weapons
- Kh-35 and P-20
- They are turbojet subsonic missiles that originated in the Soviet Union and are now used by our Navy.
- These missiles can be launched from surface ships, helicopters and coastal defence batteries.
- APR–3E
- ARE-3E is an acoustic homecoming torpedo developed and manufactured by Russia, which is now used by the Indian Navy.
- The Navy also uses several surface ships which are Russian made, including the
- Rajput-class destroyers – modified versions of the Kashin-class destroyers, manufactured by the former USSR. They were made in present-day Ukraine.
- Talwar-class frigates – launched by Russia’s Yantar Shipyard
- Veer-class missile corvettes
Fighters
- The only fighters that the Navy uses are 45 MiG-29Ks,
- India’s sole aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya — is also of Russian origin. It is a Soviet-made Kiev-class vessel that came into service for the Indian Navy in 2013.
- India also operates the Russian Kamov anti-submarine warfare helicopters.
Submarines
- India has been operating on lease the Chakra series of Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) for years to train crews for India’s own fleet of ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
- India continues to operate 8 Kilo-class submarines procured from Russia, which form the bulk of India’s conventional submarine fleet
The Indian Airforce
Recent years have seen some diversification of Equipment in the Indian Airforce in terms of Defence Imports by inducting Israeli & French systems, but still, the majority share in Russian Military Equipment – be it fighters or missiles.
Fighters Jets
All the major Fighters Jets of the Indian Airforce are of Russian Origin.
- Sukhoi Su-30 MKI – constitute about 14 of the 30 squadrons of the IAF. Some figures show that there are around 260 such jets by the Indian Airforce.
- MiG-29 UPG and MiG-21 – These are Soviet Era fighter jets used by the Indian Air force even today. Some estimates show that there are around 65 MiG-29 & 128 MiG-21 operational even today.
Transport Aircraft
- IL-76 – heavy transport aircraft. They are also called Strategic Airlifter. At present, the Indian Airforce has almost 17 such aircraft.
- IL-78 – aerial refuelling tanker. Currently 6 in number used by the Indian Airforce.
- The Indian Airforce has converted two IL-76 aircraft into Airborne Warning and Control Systems.
Helicopters
- Mi-17
- The Mi-17 is a Russian origin multi-purpose utility helicopters helicopter that is capable of fulfilling many different tasks.
- At present, there are around 223 such helicopters by the Indian Airforce & the Indian Army.
- Mi-24
- There are different variants of the original Mi-24 series attack helicopters like Mi-24, Mi-25, and Mi-35. There are around 15 such attack helicopters by the Indian Airforce.
- An attack helicopter is an armed chopper with the main role of an attack aeroplane, with the attacking ability to target ground objects such as enemy infantry, military equipment and battlements.
- Mi-26
- Mi-26 is in the heavy-lift helicopters category.
- This is one of the biggest helicopters, which is limited only to 3 units at present.
Missiles
Indian AIrforce uses many missile launch systems, be it Air-to-Air or Air-to-Surface Missile launching systems. Let’s know, which are the missiles that the Indian AIrfoce uses
- Air to Air Missile
- R-77
- R-37
- R-73
- Air to Surface Missile
- Kh-59,
- Kh-35
- Kh-31
- KAB laser-guided bombs – operated from the Su-30 MKI
- BarhMos Missile
- The BrahMos also known as PJ-10, is a mid-range stealthy supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from the surface, air and under and above water.
- The BarhMos Missile got its name from two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.
- The Indian Airforce Fighter Jet Su-30MKI has been armed with BrahMos Missile
- The BrahMos Missile has been developed and manufactured under an Inter-Government Agreement between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia as BrahMos Aerospace.
- It was formed in Feb-1998.
- Currently, BarhMos has been inducted and operational in all three wings of the Indian Defence forces.
Air Defence System
- India had bought five units of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence system in 2018
- The S-400 is among the most advanced air-defence systems in the world, with a range of around 400 km. It is capable of protecting its air defence bubble against rockets, missiles, cruise missiles and even aircraft.
Thus the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has brought into attention the Indian military’s heavy dependence on Russian military equipment, which forms the backbone of the Army, Navy and the AirForce. However, we have started diversifying our military imports, but its impact may be felt after 1-2 decades.
Hope this article would have given you details about the Russian Military Equipment used by the Indian Defence forces and how we are dependent on them for our operational hardware and technological needs.
This article would help you in getting the details of Indo-Russian Relations and their Military Equipment trade. Topics like – “Dependence of the Indian Military on Russian Equipment” or “Why India is so dependent on Russia for its military needs” are some of the most asked topics in Lecturette or Group Discussion at SSB Interview.
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