Defence Notes
New Delhi, 25 February 2008
Defence Ties With Russia
WHY INDIA PREFERS ISRAEL ?
By Radhakrishna Rao
The smooth and successful
launch of Israel’s military
satellite TECSAR by an Indian space vehicle this January and the presence of a
number of defence and aerospace firms from Israel
at the DefExpo-2008 in Delhi in February are a
clear pointer of Israel
emerging as India’s
most-preferred defence partner in the near future. In sharp contrast, the
subdued and modest presence of Russian
defence entities at the Expo was a mirror to the growing friction in Indo-Russian defence ties. From being a reliable defence
partner, Russia
has come to be looked upon in India
as an undependable supplier of military hardware, many of which have proved to
be “poor performers”.
In fact, India
is far from happy over the cost escalation, time slippages and poor after-
sales service including the non-availability of spares on number of occasions
in respect of many defence projects for which it has signed up with Russia.
Perhaps the most galling to the Indian defence establishments is the Russian insistence on an additional payment of
US$1.2-billion for the retrofitting and modernization of the Admiral Gorshkov,
a 44,750 tonne Kiev
class aircraft carrier. Russia
had originally agreed to retrofit this decommissioned
aircraft carrier for US$1.5-billion and supply it to the Indian Navy by
2008-09. Now it will reach India
only by 2012-2013 .Currently, negotiations are on between the two nations to sort
out the controversy.
Sometime last year the Chief of Navy Admiral Suresh Mehta
had stated that it was high time that New Delhi
stopped putting all its eggs in one basket, thereby implying that India should stop depending totally on the Russians and instead expand its defence ties with more
reliable partners such as Israel.
Obviously, Mehta was referring to the change of Russian
stance over the retrofitting of Gorshkov.
Clearly and apparently, Gorshkov is not the only case of
Indo-Russian defence collaboration
gone sour. It is only the tip of the ice-berg. Citing global inflation and
depreciating US dollar, Russia
has already asked India
to cough up more for SU-3)-MKI combat aircraft. And, the Indian Navy on its part
has refused to take delivery of the Kilo class
submarine and the land attack missiles
it was equipped with to fire, after it came a cropper in test firings.
Similarly, last year India
withheld the payment for one of the three IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft
upgraded with the Sea Dragon submarine detection equipment since it did not
fulfill the stringent norms set by the Indian Navy.
Another bone of contention between India and Russia
is the issue of technological
transfer in critical areas for production of T-90S battle tank by the Heavy
Vehicles Factory at Avadi near Chennai. There is a dismay in India over the
way Russians are putting impediments
in its plan to indigenously manufacture 1000 T 90S battle tanks. Now India has decided to develop the critical
technological elements in respect of T-90S that Russia
has refused to make available.
As a defence analyst in
New Delhi put it, India
is irritated with Moscow
for its failure to keep its commitment of delivering weapons systems on time
and also failing to sustain a system to provide uninterrupted supply of spares,
apart from jacking up the cost arbitrarily halfway through the implementation
of the project.
The break-up of the mighty Soviet empire leading to the
bankruptcy of its vast and sprawling military industrial complex has been
blamed for India’s
far from happy track record in dealing with the Russian
defence contractors. As it is, India
had a taste of this in 1992, when succumbing to the American pressure, Russia refused to honour its
commitment of transferring the critical cryogenic engine technology to India. Russia,
which had signed with Glavkosmos as part of the deal with Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) before the break up of the Soviet
Union was required to make available the cryogenic engine
technology. Subsequently, ISRO managed to build and test a fully Indian
cryogenic engine stage meant to power its high performance GSLV (Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle).
Diplomatic observers in New Delhi
believe that the growing chill in Indo-Russian
defence ties has to do with India’s
growing bonhomie with the US.
The Russian supreme Vladimir Putin
who is at logger heads with the American administration is quite keen about India remaining
within the orbit of Russian
influence. However, Russian
political and defence commentators continue to believe that Indo-Russian defence ties are as healthy as ever despite
“frictions and tensions” In this
context, they point out to the Indo-Russian
high-level cooperation for developing a fifth generation combat aircraft and a
multi-role cargo transport aircraft.
The Brahmos supersonic cruise missile,
developed through a joint Indo-Russian
endeavor, is being cited as yet another example of robust Indo-Russian military ties. Interestingly, India and Russia
are now not only exploring the possibility
of exporting Brahmos to friendly countries, but also are working on building an
advanced version of Brahmos missile.
Russia which currently sells defence
hardware worth about US$1.5-billion to India
could in the years to come yield place to Israel
whose annual sale of defence equipment to India clocks a turn over of
US$1-billion. In fact, Israel
has now displaced France as India’s second
largest defence partner.
The sky seems to be the limit for India
to expand its defence ties with Israel.
At DefExpo-2008, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) entered into an agreement
with Tata Industries to float a joint venture meant to cater to the needs of
the Indian customers of IAI. Tata Industries is looking at digging deeper into
the Indian defence market. Further, the Bangalore-based state-owned defence
enterprise BEL (Bharat Electroncis Ltd) tied up with three Israel-based
companies at the Expo. BEL has singed a “term sheet” with Rafael Advanced
Defence Systems to form a joint-venture company to “encourage indigenous
advanced technology capabilities of missile
electronics and guidance systems”. On the other hand, BEL has signed a MOU with
IAI-Malat for the joint development of unmanned aerial vehicles. Further, a 12-year
tie up with Elisra envisaged the joint working on various air borne electronics
warfare programmes.
Israel, which has supplied Barak missiles to the Indian Navy, is also assisting the Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd in upgrading many of the Soviet era weapons including MiG series of combat
aircraft. It is a tribute to the growing Indo-Israel ties that the Government-owned
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and IAI have joined hands
to develop a missile capable of
intercepting aircraft and other aerial objects. And despite the opposition from
the US, Israel has struck a deal with India to supply
three state-of-the art AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System).
These AWACS would help the Air Force gain a deeper and more
detailed insight into the enemy territory. First of the three AWACS would reach
India
by the year-end. In addition to supplying a variety of missiles,
UAVs, and electronics warfare hardware for all the wings of the Indian defence,
Israel
is also assisting many Indian
entities in developing missiles and
radars for a variety of end uses. For instance, Israel
is helping Bangalore-
based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to test and integrate the multi
mode radar (MMR) into the indigenously developed fourth generation Light Combat
Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. HAL has also decided to equip its Advanced Light
Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv meant for export market with IAI made avionics system.
Meanwhile, the launch of the 300-kg TECSAR featuring a
synthetic aperture radar capable of seeing through the clouds and cover of
darkness by means of the four stage
Indian space vehicle PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) has stirred
political and diplomatic controversy. The CPM whose support is crucial to the
survival of the UPA Government has hit
out at ISRO for launching a spy satellite belonging to Israel. “The
launch of Israel’s TECSAR
shows how India is aiding
the military efforts of Israel.
The satellite has the capability to track the activities in Iran and the
region”, said a CPM spokesman.
The Left party has also alleged that ISRO has agreed to
launch two more defence satellites from Israel. Iran
on its part has made its displeasure over the TECSAR launch by India with the statement that India should
have weighed the geo political situation before agreeing for this launch
contract on purely commercial terms. Time will tell how far India goes with its defence requirements with Israel. --INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|