Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Rzeszow, Poland from the capital Warsaw on August 22, 2024. Photo: X/@MEAIndia via PTI
Symbolism and balances aside, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian Prime Minister, will focus on cooperation in the defence sector as India has a huge stockpile of military equipment of both Russian and Ukrainian origin.
in the past three years War in UkraineIndia has faced supply and component constraints for some time, and has tried to diversify and reduce dependence by turning to domestic companies and seeking an alternative vendor base in other countries.
According to official sources, the situation has improved and spares, components and supplies have started arriving, though not at pre-war levels. Both Russia and Ukraine have given assurances that they will ensure timely deliveries, though it is still not as per the earlier schedule, sources said.
Sources said Ukraine has a number of cutting-edge systems and technologies, many of which are combat-tested. It has shown interest in forming joint ventures with Indian companies.
The war in Ukraine in February 2022 affected all three services of the Indian Army, which have a large quantity of weapons from both Russia and Ukraine. Soon after the war began, the Indian Army terminated several contracts related to air defence, armour and artillery, as it faced price hikes from other countries as spares and supplies became scarce and were diverted, driving up prices. Also, quality-related claims took a lot of time to be resolved, officials said.
The Army turned to indigenous defence manufacturers for smaller components and sub-assemblies. So did the Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“The Army has approached domestic vendors, tried to minimise imports of spares, assemblies etc as much as possible and diversified the vendor base where domestic options were not available, which includes about 7-8 countries like Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,” a source said. Officials said the emphasis on indigenisation was especially in the case of smaller components and ammunition.
The element of payments with Russia has been added, as Russia has been excluded from the global SWIFT system and rupee-ruble trade cannot cater to large payments.
The impact of such tensions is not new, as in the past too, the modernisation of the Indian Air Force’s AN-32 transport fleet has been delayed due to tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Under a deal struck in 2009, Ukraine upgraded more than 100 AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The upgrade of 45 AN-32s in Ukraine was completed in 2015, while the remaining aircraft were to be upgraded by the Indian Air Force’s Base Repair Depot, Kanpur, which was delayed considerably.
For the Indian Navy, the impact will probably be just as intense, if not even more, as more than 30 frontline warships are powered by engines from Ukraine’s Zorya Nashproekt. The Indian Navy has drawn up a roadmap to achieve a certain level of servicing locally in the next few years. Also, Zorya is tying up with an Indian company to carry out a certain level of engine maintenance, which will reduce the need to ship engines to Ukraine, sources said.
Defence trade between India and Ukraine continued until just before 2022. For instance, after the Balakot airstrikes in 2019, the IAF made an emergency purchase of R-27 air to air missiles for its SU-30MKI fighter jets. At Aero India in February 2021, Ukraine signed four deals worth $70 million, covering the sale of new weapons as well as maintenance and upgrades of existing weapons in service with the Indian military, the report noted. the hindu First.