The mounting international pressure following the Ukraine-Russia war did slow down the momentum of India-Russia defense ties. However, with India-US ties hitting turbulence, as indicated by the warrant issued against Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani in the US, the Indo-Russian defense ties have again picked up momentum.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who visited Russia this week, described the friendship between the two countries as “higher than the highest mountain and deeper than the deepest ocean.”
Singh said this during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Islamabad has used similar language to describe its ties with Beijing. Singh asserted that India has always stood by its Russian friends and will continue to do so in the future.
Russia is still India’s biggest weapons supplier, even as weapons sales from the US to India have increased dramatically. In the next 10 years, New Delhi is expected to spend at least US$200 billion to modernize its armed forces.
Since 2008, about 62 percent of India’s defense imports (by value) have come from Russia; other top suppliers include France (11 percent), the United States (10 percent), and Israel (7 percent).
Russia is more open to technology transfer and joint ventures, as seen in projects like BrahMos missiles and the licensed production of T-90 tanks and Su-30MKI fighters in India. BrahMos has even been exported to third countries.
Singh co-chaired the 21st session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Cooperation with Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov.
The meeting coincided with the commissioning of INS Tushil at Kaliningrad. The next frigate in line is INS Tamal, expected to be delivered in 2025. These are the last two warships for the Indian Navy to be built in a foreign shipyard.
Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) is constructing two of the remaining frigates. Following Kyiv’s decision to ban military exports to Russia in 2014, New Delhi procured two M90FR gas turbine engines for the two frigates directly from Ukraine. GSL has launched ‘Triput,’ the first of two follow-on Talwar class frigates.
The remaining two units of S-400 long-range surface-to-air missiles, which have been delayed due to the war, are expected to be delivered by 2025.
Media reports suggest that the two sides have been negotiating a deal to purchase Voronezh early warning radar system with a range of over 6,000 kilometers. The deal is expected to be worth over US$ 4 billion. If the deal comes through, it will be a big push for Indian air defense, as only the US, Russia, and China operate radar systems with a range of over 5,000 kilometers.
This will work in tandem with the Air Defense systems in the Indian military forces. The radar will increase the S-400’s detection range by over 10 times from 600 kilometers.
Sputnik India quoted the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis’s Alexander Mikhailov as saying: “When a satellite detects a launch, it alerts the Voronezh radar, which then confirms or refutes the threat.”
“The key role of these radar systems is to verify the presence of a threat, such as a mass launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and provide crucial information for interception.”
In November, a ten-member team from Almaz-Antey, a Russian air defense system manufacturer, was in India. Sixty percent of the systems will be manufactured in India under the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative. Fifty Indian companies are expected to be part of the radar manufacturing industry.
The Voronezh radar system can detect incoming ballistic missiles, aircraft, and other aerial threats from far off. The system is part of Russia’s missile defense and space surveillance infrastructure. The detection range of the Voronezh radar is approximately 6,000 to 8,000 km (about 3,700 to 5,000 miles), depending on the version and the specific frequency band it operates in.
Reports indicate that the system will likely be located in Chitradurga, Karnataka, to give it pan-India coverage. The radar’s far-reaching coverage of 6,000 to 8,000 kilometers will enable India to monitor vast areas of the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean. The radar’s range will make it possible for India to keep a tab on Chinese missile and air activities, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Russia has transferred sensitive military technology to India even when other countries have hesitated. Selling MiG-21 supersonic fighter jets, leasing nuclear-powered submarines, and helping India build its indigenous nuclear-powered submarine have all resulted from Russia sharing state-of-the-art weaponry with India.
India’s first nuclear test in 1974 has made it a target of US-led global sanctions. However, the USSR did not shun India. Russia has been the only country so far that has been able to navigate India’s civil nuclear liability law and build a nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. In February 2024, India and Russia upgraded an agreement to build six civil nuclear power plants in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The Ukraine war has also seen a surge in India’s import of Russian crude oil from a measly 2 percent to over 40 percent in June 2024. The refined oil was then exported to Western countries.
The two countries aim to increase their bilateral trade from US$68 billion to US$100 billion by the end of this decade. Initiatives like the Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor and the International North-South Transport Corridor have increased connectivity between them.
The Thorns In The Ties
The burgeoning economic ties between the two countries have a significant problem. Of the US$ 68 billion in trade between the two countries, US$ 60 billion is from oil imports. The large Indian import of Russian crude means that Russia is accumulating huge amounts of Indian rupees, creating rouble-rupee trade issues.
Another issue is that of some Indian nationals duped into fighting for Russia in the Ukraine conflict. Most recently, the Russian government has initiated the process to grant permanent residency (PR) to five members of the family of an Indian citizen, Tejpal Singh, who was killed fighting for the Russian army in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 12.
The development has been confirmed by Tejpal’s widow, Parminder Kaur, who has been granted PR, while other members of her family — her children and Tejpal’s parents — will be granted permanent residency on arrival in Russia.
Also, since the Ukraine war, the world has seen decreased interoperability between the Indian and Russian armed forces. The Indra exercise between the two countries has not been held since 2022. There has been only one naval drill in the Bay of Bengal in November 2023 and two instances of engagement at multilateral exercises—‘Vostok 2022’ and ‘MILAN 2024’.
This is in contrast to the high degree of interoperability that Russia and China have maintained in recent times. The two countries have high-level military-to-military engagements and regular joint air and naval patrols in the Pacific.
In July, the US and Canadian fighter jets intercepted Russian and Chinese strategic bombers TU-95MS and H-6K while on a joint patrol near Alaska.
In the latest joint combat patrol over the Sea of Japan at the beginning of December, two of China’s nuclear-capable bombers, H-6N, were escorted by a Chinese J-17 fighter jet and a Russian Tu-95 bomber. Besides being the debut of the H-6N in joint patrol, the highlight of this edition was that the Chinese long-range strategic bomber shared data with the Russian bomber.
China and Russia have also conducted naval live-fire drills in the South China Sea.
