Putin to sign multi-billion dollar arms deals in India

[Machoman]

Putin to sign multi-billion dollar arms deals in India
Defense & Security News — By Agence France-Presse on March 12, 2010 at 4:49 am

NEW DELHI: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was to seal a series of multi-billion dollar arms deals Friday during a visit to India aimed at boosting ties with Moscow's old Cold War ally.

According to Russian officials, Putin will sign more than a dozen pacts amounting to 10 billion dollars, including an accord to resolve the troubled sale of a refitted Soviet-era aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.

Other deals include a contract to sell India 29 MiG fighter jets and an agreement to install additional nuclear power units in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where it is already building two reactors.

The sale of the Admiral Gorshkov has been marred by a series of price disputes and delayed deliveries, fuelling concerns in Moscow that India could be tempted to end its dependence on Russian military equipment.

Putin's foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the new accord would "suit both sides" and help put the dispute behind them.

"We have an enormous interest in India," he told reporters ahead of Putin's arrival in New Delhi.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware but in recent years New Delhi has looked to other military suppliers including Israel and the United States.

The strong ties between Moscow and New Delhi date back to the 1950s after the death of Stalin. But India has in recent years also taken care to balance this friendship by fostering closer relations with Washington.

India's foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash described Russia as a "valued partner and time-tested friend."

"We have a similar outlook on a whole host of regional and international issues," Prakash said.

Together with Brazil and China, Russia and India are part of the so-called BRIC grouping of major developing economies seeking to promote a multipolar world economy not dominated by the United States.

At just over 7.5 billion dollars in 2009, trade turnover is minuscule and the two countries will aim to increase it to 20 billion dollars by 2015.

According to Indian officials, energy is emerging as a new focus of cooperation between oil and gas-rich Russia and energy-starved India, which is always on the lookout for new fuel sources to power its growing economy.

Indian foreign ministry official Ajay Bisaria noted that New Delhi had invested 2.8 billion dollars in an oil field on Sakhalin island off Russia's east coast and was in talks with energy firms Rosneft and Gazprom for more blocks in north Russia.

"India has had an energy strategy of investing in equity in that region and this continues," Bisaria said.

Russia is expected to begin construction soon of another nuclear power facility in the eastern India state of West Bengal.

Putin, who last visited India as Russian president in 2007, is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil

 

[Dron.ru]

Some quotes from the Russian press

Given that India has set its sights on developing a new maritime theater and the creation of ocean-going fleet, Russia is ready not only to build and deliver their subs, but with the Indian specialists to design a completely new submarine, so the required country. It will meet all the requirements of the national Navy. Also, Russia is ready to transmit its strategic partner, the necessary technology and to assist in the construction of these submarines at Indian shipyards.

"The joint construction of surface ships and submarines, and even more so their joint design - is an entirely different process, which differs radically from the sale of finished products, built for customers at the Russian shipyards - said the Head of the Department of the Navy ROE Oleg Aziz. - The work requires a different approach when simultaneously with the delivery of equipment is equipping foreign shipyards during construction by trained crews of ships and industrial and technical training shipyard. Add to that the supply of ammunition, and sets of Zip, repair and technical documentation. But I am sure that in this area of expertise is in demand in the near future."

A new step in the cooperation in the field of naval armaments was a contract in 2006 for the construction of three more frigates India Project 11356. A distinctive feature of arming these ships will be the latest missile BrahMos, jointly developed by the Russian-Indian company. Now the construction of the frigates is JSC "Baltic Plant" Yantar ". The ships will be transferred to the customer in 2010-2012 and will serve in the Indian Navy at least 25 years. They are designed for combat operations against surface ships and submarines in the ocean and marine areas, can effectively serve as escorts and escort ships, to repulse air attacks, both independently and as part of Naval, and by their firepower frigate of Project 11356 is actually caught up with the destroyer.

New opportunities for cooperation in the field of shipbuilding should appear in the next three years after the launching of a new stealth destroyer, whose development began in last month.

Invisible Destroyer (12.03.2010)
Russia begins to develop a new generation of warships

As Russia began to develop a fundamentally new destroyer. The ship should be versatile - able to deal with surface, submarine and air targets, have increased the autonomy of navigation, and most importantly - to be executed on technology invisibility stealth.

- There are research works on the image of the new ship far sea zone, issued technical documentation project. This process will last about 30 months - the source said, Interfax news agency.

According to him, promising a ship, a project number which has not yet been appointed, will be multi-purpose, that will determine his choice of weapons.

"Izvestia" managed to clarify some details of the project. Chief among them - the desire of designers to make the ship below deck universal vertical launcher of the start of type "honeycomb". This will not only provide low profile of the ship, but also increase its combat effectiveness, as one launcher commander can use different types of anti-aircraft, anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles. This principle is now active and spend Americans. For us it is new.

Which rocket will carry a new destroyer? Judging by recent exhibitions of naval armaments, the choice of our developers sufficiently defined. In the field of anti-arms are the two most promising types of cruise missiles - a powerful supersonic "Onyx" or subsonic missile Kh-35. Both are able to start from the deck containers upright.

Anti-submarine weapons today presented the latest set of "Medvedka." This is a unique domestic design, combining the rocket, and torpedo. From the launcher "Medvedka" flies like a rocket. In the area of the alleged purpose of finding reveals its fairing, and out pops homing torpedo. By combining two different mechanisms in fact achieved a speed of delivery of a torpedo to the target, and its low profile. Detect done most of the way through the air torpedo the enemy will only directly in the moment of encounter with her.

In the area of air defense ship, developers promise not less interesting "The Metamorphosis": the destroyer should be anti-aircraft missiles small, medium and long range. Today it is three different complex weights and dimensions that they can place them only on cruisers. However, the defense has a perspective to judge the fact that interbreeding is possible. For example, the same land-air defense missile system S-400 Favorit is capable of producing rockets as a small and large range. "Omoryachivanie" land systems possible. In the modern Russian navy go overland "Torah", "Buki" and C-300. But they are called differently - "Dagger," "Hurricane," "Fort".

Another of the innovations - a serious decline in the number of crew. This should lead to improvement of living conditions on the ship, and to improve the automation of its management. Designers promise that the new destroyer will have a modern gas turbine unit that will ensure him the speed of 30 knots (nearly 60 km per hour). At low speed it can take 10 thousand nautical miles (twice as much as standing in the armed destroyers project 956 type "Buzzard"). In addition, the ship will carry two anti-submarine helicopters.