India set to ink defence deals worth more than 1 Lakh Cr (USD 15bn) with Russia
India and Russia are
likely to sign several high profile defence agreements during Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow for his annual summit with
President Vladimir Putin. The deals include a mega contract to acquire
S-400 anti-ballistic missile systems at a cost of around Rs 70,000
crores, top sources in the Defence Ministry said.
Mr Modi is likely to visit Moscow immediately after the winter session of Parliament, most probably on December 24-25. Other defence deals, which may on the table include the purchase of 48 Mi-17V5 attack helicopters for the IAF and 50 Kamov multirole choppers for the Indian Navy. Talks to lease one more nuclear submarine from Russia seems to have hit the road block. “We are no more considering to lease the nuclear submarine,” said a top level naval official.
The Russians had offered Kashalot K-322 nuclear power submarine of project 971 Shchuka to India and the talks were going on for some months. Indian Navy is already operating a Nerpa class Russian nuclear-powered submarine ‘INS Chakra,’ which it leased from Moscow in 2012 for ten years. The Indian Navy operated a Russian nuclear submarine for ten years back in the early 1980s.
The Russians have offered to upgrade the submarine based on Indian requirements and promised to handover the charge of the vessel in 2018 after the repair, upgrade and testing work and the Indian crew’s training are completed. The official would not say why the talks for leasing submarine is not fructifying. However, deal for S-400 missile system said to be firmly on track.
The modalities, including the price of deal and number of systems to be acquired, were agreed upon during the meeting of India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military-Technical-Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) which was co-chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in the first week of last month.
Mr Modi is likely to visit Moscow immediately after the winter session of Parliament, most probably on December 24-25. Other defence deals, which may on the table include the purchase of 48 Mi-17V5 attack helicopters for the IAF and 50 Kamov multirole choppers for the Indian Navy. Talks to lease one more nuclear submarine from Russia seems to have hit the road block. “We are no more considering to lease the nuclear submarine,” said a top level naval official.
The Russians had offered Kashalot K-322 nuclear power submarine of project 971 Shchuka to India and the talks were going on for some months. Indian Navy is already operating a Nerpa class Russian nuclear-powered submarine ‘INS Chakra,’ which it leased from Moscow in 2012 for ten years. The Indian Navy operated a Russian nuclear submarine for ten years back in the early 1980s.
The Russians have offered to upgrade the submarine based on Indian requirements and promised to handover the charge of the vessel in 2018 after the repair, upgrade and testing work and the Indian crew’s training are completed. The official would not say why the talks for leasing submarine is not fructifying. However, deal for S-400 missile system said to be firmly on track.
The modalities, including the price of deal and number of systems to be acquired, were agreed upon during the meeting of India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military-Technical-Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) which was co-chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in the first week of last month.
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