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SOURCE: EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
In a major boost to their military ties, India and Russia on Monday decided to hold their first ever joint air forces exercise next year, even as they agreed to jointly strategise on policies and cooperation in the fast-changing global security scenario.
The decisions came during the Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation meeting between Indian Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu in Moscow just two days after the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier was handed over to the Indian Navy.
“India and Russia have agreed to expand the range of their strategic partnership in a significant manner,” a Defence Ministry spokesperson, who has accompanied Antony to Moscow, said after the meeting.
However, he did not specify if the proposal from India to lease a second Akula-II class nuclear-powered submarine from Russia had been discussed by the ministers. India has already leased a Russian nuclear-powered submarine of the Akula-II class for 10 years paying near Rs 5,000 crore in early 2012 and christened it INS Chakra, a key asset that would help Indian submariners to train ahead of the induction of India’s own nuclear-powered submarine Arihant in a couple of years from now.
Russia is India’s largest arms supplier and almost 80 per cent of all Indian military weapons, equipment, systems and vehicles are of Russian origin. However, the recent move by India to buy critical defence equipment from other nations, especially military aircraft such as C-17s, C-130J and P-8I from the US, has caused heartburns in Russia. There have also been sticky issues with regard to technology transfers and after-sales support from Russian military industries.
On this front, the two ministers reviewed all key defence supplies by Russia to India, especially the licenced production of the T-90 Tanks for the Indian Army and the Sukhoi Su-30 air superiority combat planes for the Indian Air Force. Both Antony and Shoigu felt that the two nations should sign a long-term maintenance support agreement.
Their two navies would soon hold their joint exercise in 2014 in the Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan. The two nation’s navies hold their Indra series naval exercise annually. Only earlier this month, the two nations had concluded the annual Indra series joint army exercise in Rajasthan focusing on infantry combat vehicle in counter-terrorism operations.
The two Ministers agreed that there was a need for further cooperation at all levels, especially in view of the regional and global challenges and to fight the menace of terrorism jointly. Both sides — which included Defence Secretary R K Mathur, Secretary Defence Production G C Pati, Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajay Malhotra, Air Marshal S Sukumar, Vice Admiral N N Kumar, Lt Gen Narendra Singh and Director General Acquisition S B Agnihotri — also reviewed the situation in West Asia, especially in Syria, and the evolving paradigm in Afghanistan.
“In order to give a new impetus to the relationship, which has gathered momentum over the years, the two sides agreed that the time has come to expand the cooperation not only in product design and development, which has made significant progress over the years, but also to involve various echelons of the defence establishments in strategising policies and cooperation in the fast changing global security scenario,” the spokesperson said.
Referring to their joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) and Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) projects, Antony said the two projects were significant because they symbolised going past the buyer-seller relationship between Russia and India. He said both sides must give their best at all phases of the execution of the two next-generation projects, including design, development and production.
Shoigu assured that the Russian naval aviation specialists would train Indian naval combat pilots fully on taking-off and landing on board INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. In all probability, the training would be provided in Goa, which has the Indian naval air base INS Hansa, which is the home-base for the Russian origin MiG-29K combat jets that are operated from on board INS Vikramaditya. INS Hansa also has a shore-based training facility for ‘Short Take Off But Arrested Landing’ of the combat planes akin to an aircraft carrier’s flight deck.
Before the meeting, Antony and his delegation went to Poklonnaya Gora (Bow-Down Hill) at Victory Park and laid a wreath at the World War-II memorial.
In a major boost to their military ties, India and Russia on Monday decided to hold their first ever joint air forces exercise next year, even as they agreed to jointly strategise on policies and cooperation in the fast-changing global security scenario.
The decisions came during the Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation meeting between Indian Defence Minister A K Antony and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu in Moscow just two days after the Russian-built INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier was handed over to the Indian Navy.
“India and Russia have agreed to expand the range of their strategic partnership in a significant manner,” a Defence Ministry spokesperson, who has accompanied Antony to Moscow, said after the meeting.
However, he did not specify if the proposal from India to lease a second Akula-II class nuclear-powered submarine from Russia had been discussed by the ministers. India has already leased a Russian nuclear-powered submarine of the Akula-II class for 10 years paying near Rs 5,000 crore in early 2012 and christened it INS Chakra, a key asset that would help Indian submariners to train ahead of the induction of India’s own nuclear-powered submarine Arihant in a couple of years from now.
Russia is India’s largest arms supplier and almost 80 per cent of all Indian military weapons, equipment, systems and vehicles are of Russian origin. However, the recent move by India to buy critical defence equipment from other nations, especially military aircraft such as C-17s, C-130J and P-8I from the US, has caused heartburns in Russia. There have also been sticky issues with regard to technology transfers and after-sales support from Russian military industries.
On this front, the two ministers reviewed all key defence supplies by Russia to India, especially the licenced production of the T-90 Tanks for the Indian Army and the Sukhoi Su-30 air superiority combat planes for the Indian Air Force. Both Antony and Shoigu felt that the two nations should sign a long-term maintenance support agreement.
Their two navies would soon hold their joint exercise in 2014 in the Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan. The two nation’s navies hold their Indra series naval exercise annually. Only earlier this month, the two nations had concluded the annual Indra series joint army exercise in Rajasthan focusing on infantry combat vehicle in counter-terrorism operations.
The two Ministers agreed that there was a need for further cooperation at all levels, especially in view of the regional and global challenges and to fight the menace of terrorism jointly. Both sides — which included Defence Secretary R K Mathur, Secretary Defence Production G C Pati, Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajay Malhotra, Air Marshal S Sukumar, Vice Admiral N N Kumar, Lt Gen Narendra Singh and Director General Acquisition S B Agnihotri — also reviewed the situation in West Asia, especially in Syria, and the evolving paradigm in Afghanistan.
“In order to give a new impetus to the relationship, which has gathered momentum over the years, the two sides agreed that the time has come to expand the cooperation not only in product design and development, which has made significant progress over the years, but also to involve various echelons of the defence establishments in strategising policies and cooperation in the fast changing global security scenario,” the spokesperson said.
Referring to their joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) and Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) projects, Antony said the two projects were significant because they symbolised going past the buyer-seller relationship between Russia and India. He said both sides must give their best at all phases of the execution of the two next-generation projects, including design, development and production.
Shoigu assured that the Russian naval aviation specialists would train Indian naval combat pilots fully on taking-off and landing on board INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. In all probability, the training would be provided in Goa, which has the Indian naval air base INS Hansa, which is the home-base for the Russian origin MiG-29K combat jets that are operated from on board INS Vikramaditya. INS Hansa also has a shore-based training facility for ‘Short Take Off But Arrested Landing’ of the combat planes akin to an aircraft carrier’s flight deck.
Before the meeting, Antony and his delegation went to Poklonnaya Gora (Bow-Down Hill) at Victory Park and laid a wreath at the World War-II memorial.
