By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Defence ties between India and Russia would be maintained in the years ahead even as the two countries are negotiating fresh deals for military hardware, New Delhi’s envoy here has asserted.
Ambassador Kanwal Sibal was speaking during a media interaction on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Indian independence.
Russia is currently servicing about $10 billion worth of contracts with India for military hardware.
Discussions were on for the supply of 40 additional Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets and 80 MI-17 medium lift helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF), and 47 T-90 tanks to the Indian Army in addition to the 1,330 that have already been contracted for, Sibal pointed out.
“There is a great deal of trust between the two countries, but we need to go beyond this defence cooperation because the kind of volumes and figures that we have in mind in term of our future trade cannot be based on defence cooperation alone,” the envoy maintained.
“Therefore we must expand commercial and economic cooperation…We have to remove the weakness of our economic relations…but time is in our favour,” he added.
With 70 percent of the hardware with the Indian armed forces being imported, Russia is India’s biggest supplier of arms and other equipment. However, with India looking to expand its options, Israel has emerged as the second largest supplier, having sold equipment worth over $4.5 billion in the past five years.
This apart, as many as six different aircraft are in contention for an IAF order for 126 combat jets, with the Russian MiG-35 also being in the race. The bulk of the IAF’s fleet of fighter and transport aircraft is of Soviet or Russian origin.
There have been major hiccups of late in India-Russia ties – the chief of these relating to huge time and cost overruns in refurbishing the decommissioned aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov the Indian Navy has purchased.
The carrier, which was to be delivered by 2008, is now likely to arrive only around 2012. This is because the shipyard at which the ship is being refitted has begun work on a new nuclear-powered submarine and most of the workforce has been shifted to the new project.
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony has admitted to “problems” with the Gorshkov deal and has hoped these would be “sorted out” soon.
Antony is likely to visit Moscow in October, ahead of the annual summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin.