Bridges of Trust
Andrey Frolov
For most of the post-Soviet period India has been a key Russian arms trade partner. From 2000 to 2010, an average of 30 per cent of Russian exports were bound for India; in some years the figure was as high as 42 per cent. Ships, submarines and naval weaponry make up a large proportion of these sales. Since 2000, India has taken delivery of the INS Vikramaditya, a Russian-built Project 11430 aircraft carrier; six Talwar-class (Project 11356) frigates; INS Sindhurashtra, a Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarine; and 45 MiG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighter aircraft. Russia has also played a prominent role in the Indian programmes of upgrading Navy ships, submarines (especially the Sindhughosh-class submarine upgrades) and naval aircraft. On 15 October 2016 during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, the two parties signed a new package of bilateral agreements and contracts, including an agreement to build four Project 11356 frigates at Russian and Indian shipyards. This new deal will further boost Russian-Indian trade in naval weaponry.
One of the key distinctive elements of the Russian-Indian arms trade, including naval contracts, is the high level of technology involved. India is a very demanding customer, and wants only the most advanced systems, many of them designed to suit its own special requirements. Ordering bespoke weapons systems has recently become the new norm in the global arms market, but for India this is nothing new. Its early orders for bespoke weapons systems date back to the Soviet period when the Indian Navy commissioned Soviet suppliers to design and build Project 61ME fleet destroyers to its own set of specifications.
Diesel-electric Submarines
In September 2017 it will be exactly 50 years since the completion of the first Indian submarine, the INS Kalvari (Project I 641). The boat was laid down on 27 December 1966, launched on 15 April 1967, and delivered to the Indian Navy on 26 September 1967. It was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau, and built in St Petersburg (known as Leningrad at the time) at the Admiralty Shipyards.
In 1962 India held negotiations with the British about buying three or four of the Royal Navy’s Porpoise-class submarines, which were fairly modern at the time. But the British eventually refused, offering instead to build Oberon-type boats specially for the Indian Navy. Meanwhile, in August 1964 Moscow offered Delhi several large Project 641 submarines. The Indian Navy had initially expressed its preference for the Oberon boats, but in the meantime the Labour government led by Harold Wilson came to power in the UK. In May 1965, it refused to provide Delhi a GBP 5 million loan so that they could place an order for the four Oberons, to be built at Britain’s own shipyards. India, therefore, turned to the Soviet Union, which offered them very good commercial terms. In the end, on 1 September 1965 the two countries signed an agreement to build four large diesel-electric submarines of the Project I641 design, which was an export version of Project 641.
For most of the post-Soviet period India has been a key Russian arms trade partner. From 2000 to 2010, an average of 30 per cent of Russian exports were bound for India; in some years the figure was as high as 42 per cent. Ships, submarines and naval weaponry make up a large proportion of these sales. Since 2000, India has taken delivery of the INS Vikramaditya, a Russian-built Project 11430 aircraft carrier; six Talwar-class (Project 11356) frigates; INS Sindhurashtra, a Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarine; and 45 MiG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighter aircraft. Russia has also played a prominent role in the Indian programmes of upgrading Navy ships, submarines (especially the Sindhughosh-class submarine upgrades) and naval aircraft. On 15 October 2016 during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, the two parties signed a new package of bilateral agreements and contracts, including an agreement to build four Project 11356 frigates at Russian and Indian shipyards. This new deal will further boost Russian-Indian trade in naval weaponry.
One of the key distinctive elements of the Russian-Indian arms trade, including naval contracts, is the high level of technology involved. India is a very demanding customer, and wants only the most advanced systems, many of them designed to suit its own special requirements. Ordering bespoke weapons systems has recently become the new norm in the global arms market, but for India this is nothing new. Its early orders for bespoke weapons systems date back to the Soviet period when the Indian Navy commissioned Soviet suppliers to design and build Project 61ME fleet destroyers to its own set of specifications.
Diesel-electric Submarines
In September 2017 it will be exactly 50 years since the completion of the first Indian submarine, the INS Kalvari (Project I 641). The boat was laid down on 27 December 1966, launched on 15 April 1967, and delivered to the Indian Navy on 26 September 1967. It was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau, and built in St Petersburg (known as Leningrad at the time) at the Admiralty Shipyards.
In 1962 India held negotiations with the British about buying three or four of the Royal Navy’s Porpoise-class submarines, which were fairly modern at the time. But the British eventually refused, offering instead to build Oberon-type boats specially for the Indian Navy. Meanwhile, in August 1964 Moscow offered Delhi several large Project 641 submarines. The Indian Navy had initially expressed its preference for the Oberon boats, but in the meantime the Labour government led by Harold Wilson came to power in the UK. In May 1965, it refused to provide Delhi a GBP 5 million loan so that they could place an order for the four Oberons, to be built at Britain’s own shipyards. India, therefore, turned to the Soviet Union, which offered them very good commercial terms. In the end, on 1 September 1965 the two countries signed an agreement to build four large diesel-electric submarines of the Project I641 design, which was an export version of Project 641.