Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Ukraine on August 23, 2024, at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During his visit, Modi and Zelenskyy are expected to discuss various areas of cooperation, including defense, economic ties, and science and technology.
A lot of defense equipment that India acquired from the Soviet Union over the years was manufactured in what is now Ukraine. Still in use and operationally significant defence equipment sourced from Ukraine includes Gas Turbine engines for IN (Indian Navy) Warships and An-32 aircraft operated by the IAF (Indian Air Force).
The imperative for India to maintain close defense ties with Ukraine is strong.
According to Bloomberg sources, Ukraine’s state-owned Zorya-Mashproekt is in talks with Indian private sector companies to jointly manufacture gas turbines used by warships. The two countries are also discussing manufacturing aircraft and aero-engines in India.
Joint manufacture of Ukrainian gas turbines in India would enable India to keep its fleet of An-72 aircraft flying and Indian Navy Project 11356 frigates cruising.
IAF An-32 Fleet
The IAF operates a fleet of 105 An-32 medium tactical military transport aircraft. The aircraft has outstanding takeoff characteristics in hot and high conditions typical of the LAC (up to 55 °C and 4,500 m elevation)
The IAF is heavily dependent on the An-32 for air maintenance of army troops deployed along our northern frontier, air cargo drop-off, para drop-off, and medevac.
In June 2009, India signed a $400 million agreement with Ukraine’s SpetsTechnoExport (STE) to upgrade its fleet of 105 AN-32 aircraft, extend their life by 40 years, and improve their avionics.
Under the agreement, 40 An-32s were to be upgraded at designer-certified plants in Ukraine, with 10 aircraft being upgraded annually. Ukraine was to upgrade the remaining 64 An-32s at IAF’s No. 1 Base Repair Depot (BRD) at Kanpur using material and ToT.
The upgrade project is woefully behind schedule. As of 2024, IAF has plans to upgrade another 60 An-32s within India by FY2028-29, at the rate of 15 per overhaul cycle, led by 1 Base Repair Depot, Kanpur and 3 Base Repair Depot, Chandigarh.
The Indian Air Force’s Antonov An-32 aircraft are each powered by two Ivchenko Progress AI-20DM turboprop engines. The engine produces approximately 3,864 kW of output power.
The Ivchenko Progress AI-20DM engines are manufactured at Motor Sich in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, and at the Perm Engine Plant (UEC-Perm Engines) in Perm, Russia. The spares for the Ivchenko Progress AI-20DM engines used by the Indian Air Force (IAF) are provided by (STE).
Admiral Grigorovich-Class (Project 11356M) Frigates
India’s ongoing construction of two Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356M) frigates at the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) may be in jeopardy because Ukraine supplies the gas turbines to power the warships.
In 2018, India and Russia signed a formal contract under which PSZ Yantar would supply India with two Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356M) frigates for use by the IN and help India’s Goa Shipyard Ltd. (GSL) build two more. Russia would also provide technical assistance to the Indian shipyard in setting up production facilities for the 11356M frigates.
The ships are designed around gas turbine propulsion units built by Ukrainian firm Ukroboronprom’s Gas Turbine Research & Production Complex Zorya-Mashproekt.
However, following the Maidan coup of 2014, Ukraine refused to supply the engines to Russia!
The contract envisaged India purchasing two gas turbine propulsion units directly from Ukraine and handing them over to Russia for fitment on the two frigates to be supplied to India.
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Ukraine’s Zorya-Mashproekt enterprise in the Mykolaiv region, which produces the engines for Project 11356M frigates, was reportedly already headed for bankruptcy before the start of Russia’s Special Military Operations (SMO) in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Following the start of the SMO, on March 13, 2022, Zorya-Mashproekt’s construction facility was struck by a Russian missile attack. According to a CSIS analysis, Russia’s stand-off strikes damaged significant portions of the plant and caused large fires, likely crippling the plant’s ability to produce turbines in the near term.
It’s clear that Zorya-Mashproekt will not resume production of gas turbines before the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
Both frigates earmarked for India have been launched, fitted with the Ukrainian engines sent to Russia by India. The two ships completed by PSZ Yantar – “Tushil” and “Tamala” – are planned to be transferred to the Indian Navy in 2023 and 2024.
The first ship to be constructed at GSL was to be delivered in 2026, and the second, after 06 months.
Construction Progress In India
The keel for the first ship to be built at GSL was laid on January 29, 2021, and the keel of the second was on June 18, 2021. In September 2021, Goa Shipyard Limited signed a contract with the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise M/s. Zorya-Mashproekt for supply of two sets of M7N Main Gas Turbines.
It’s not known if Ukraine has supplied India with any of the two ordered engines.
Since 2014, Russia has vigorously pursued import substitution projects to eliminate its dependency on Zorya-Mashproekt turbines. When it struck the enterprise facilities, Russia evidently decided that it could do without the enterprise.
Russia has not destroyed the enterprise facilities completely because Mykolaiv may eventually come under Russian control.
Options For India
Besides Project 11356M frigates, Zorya-Mashproekt turbines power many other Indian warships, including Talwar (Project 11356) class frigates and Kolkata (Project 15) and Visakhapatnam (Project 15B) class destroyers. As such, a prolonged war will adversely impact the Indian Navy’s operational capability.
India cannot keep its fingers crossed and wait for the production of gas turbines and spares to resume at Zorya-Mashproekt in Ukraine.
A prolonged conflict could result in the languishing of shipbuilding technology that India acquired from Russia for building Project 11356M warships in Goa. The fate of the two Project 11356M warships being built in Goa is uncertain. A lack of marine gas turbine spares would adversely impact the IN’s operational capability.
Both Ukraine and India stand to gain from a joint venture manufacturing Zorya-Mashproekt gas turbines for ships and aircraft in India. With a JV in India, Zorya-Mashproekt need not wait for the end of the Russian SMO before resuming production of its gas turbines.
The market in India for the Ukrainian gas turbines is large enough to justify JV manufacturing. In addition, there is export potential. Besides the IAF, the An-32, which entered service in the 1980s, served with the air forces of Ukraine, Russia, Bangladesh, Iraq, Mexico and Sudan.
- Vijainder K Thakur is a retired IAF Jaguar pilot, author, software architect, entrepreneur, and military analyst.
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