|
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik
told India Strategic in an interview
that the delivery of the first lot of 80 Mi 17
helicopters, ordered in 2008, would begin from
later this year while the Indian Air Force (IAF)
was now processing another request for an additional
59 helicopters.
IAF’s recent request for 42 SU 30 MKI aircraft
has already been cleared by the Ministry of Defence,
taking the total number of this air dominance
combat jets order to a sizeable 272. IAF has also
signed a contract with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s
sole arms exporting agency, to upgrade its fleet
of Soviet-vintage Mig 29 fighters and Il 76 airlifters
while the Indian Navy has placed an order for
45 navalised version Mig 29K shipboard jets.
Rough estimates indicate that Russia has secured
military aircraft and related equipment/ services
orders worth around $20 billion since 1997 when
the agreement for the SU 30 aircraft was signed.
The order for the 272 SU 30 MKIs, is the biggest
aircraft deal in numbers with Russia after that
of the Mig 21s signed with the Soviet Union from
1968 onwards (Rs 2 crores or about $ 300,000 per
aircraft at that time).
Aircraft were cheap in the Soviet days but now,
an Su 30 MKI is around $ 50 million (Rs 230 crores)
each inclusive of some support packages and Transfer
of Technology (ToT). The total cost for 272 SU
30 MKIs works out to $ 13.6 billion. India will
also spend some $ 2.5 billion on upgrading its
SU 30 MKIs from 2012 onwards as part of a periodic
exercise.
As for the Mig 21s, India bought more than 400
of them, and only around 140 of these aircraft,
upgraded to Mig 21 Bis configuration with new
avionics and BVR (Beyond the Visual Range) missiles,
are to serve in the IAF inventory for another
six or seven years. The upgrade has been undertaken
by Russian and HAL facilities.
 The
Mig 29K deal touches nearly $ two billion and
the upgrade of Mig 29s for the IAF nearly $ one
billion. A Mi 17 V5 helicopter reportedly costs
around $ five million (total nearly $ 700 million
for 139 machines).
India has also purchased six Il 78 midair refuelers
and three IL 76 aircraft for accommodating the
Israeli Phalcon electronic radars, two of which
have been delivered to India. The third Phalcon
is due by end-2010. Meanwhile, IAF has ordered
two more Phalcons on the same IL 76 platform.
Notably, as the Phalcon radars are heavy, the
IL 76 airlifters have been upgraded with more
powerful PS-90 engines, the cost though for them
is quite high and not considered appropriate for
upgrading the IAF’s fleet of less than 20
old Soviet-vintage Il 76 aircraft.
All these aircraft have served the Indian Air
Force well; the Il 76 has a remarkable safety
record, the Mi 17 has sustained the lifeline of
the Indian troops in Siachin heights, and the
Mig 25 gave IAF an intrusive capability that no
missile or aircraft could intercept. The only
point is that the Soviet vintage machines are
old in age as well as in technology and need replacement
with newer platforms with newer and extreme technologies
to last 30 to 40 years in the coming decades.
Air Chief Marshal Naik disclosed that the IL 76s,
first acquired in April 1985, are also under life
extension under a contract with Russia. “The
life extension of IL-76 aircraft would involve
complete overhaul of airframe at the vendor’s
premises in Russia… The first aircraft has
already been positioned and the servicing has
commenced. Various other upgrades would be executed
in India. Post-servicing, the aircraft would be
available to us for more than 10 years,”
he said.
India is also a partner in the develoment of Multi-role
Transport Aircraft (MTA) and Russia’s Fifth
Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), which it is
committed to support financially and then buy
as and when they are developed and operational.
 On
a conservative estimate accordingly, Russia has
already won nearly $ 20 billion worth of orders
and commitments from India for its aircraft and
helicopters. (Sale of other systems for the Army
and Navy, like the aircraft carrier Gorshkov for
about $ 2.35 billion, ships, submarines, T 90
tanks and missiles etc, are not included in this
estimate for Indo-Russian defence trade).
The erstwhile Soviet Union also dominated India’s
defence supplies, and nearly 70 per cent of the
equipment with the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force
was acquired from it. The total cost of this entire
equipment however is estimated at a little more
that $ 30 billion, or roughly, around 30 per cent
more that what the IAF alone has commited over
the last 10-12 years since the acquisition of
Su 30s.
All the figures are approximate because every
deal has add-ons in the form of spares, spare
engines, maintenance support and training. ToT
is extra. Some figures are not readily available
with us.
 It
may be noted that all the deals with Russia have
been single-vendor, based on bilateral discussions
and negotiations.
For that matter, except for the tender for the
126-plus Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA),
for which there is a multi-vendor global Request
for Proposals (RfP), the IAF has acquired all
its existing aircraft and helicopters from single
vendors.
For instance, the Mirage 2000 was acquired from
France, the Jaguar from an Anglo-French partnership
involving Breguet (now Dassault Aviation) and
British Aircraft Corporation (now BAE Systems),
and the Mig 21, Mig 23, Mig 25, Mig 27 and Mig
29 from the Soviet Union.
Pointedly however, the prices of Soviet equipment
were much lower those days, and also, what were
then called “Friendship prices” for
countries like India, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.
Today, as the Gorshkov deal has demonstrated,
market prices rule; Russia looks for better prices
and India, for better technologies. Russia though
has demonstrated its capability to sustain its
edge in aircraft and helicopter sales to India.
|
