The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war might have a far bigger impact on some of the critical equipment in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces which get their spares and other maintenance support from Ukraine, senior defence officials told News18.com.
As reported by News18.com earlier this week, the Indian defence establishment is primarily concerned about the impact the conflict may have on the supply of spares and after-sales support for some of the Russian-origin equipment that form the mainstay of the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force.
Other planned capital procurements from Russia, such as VSHORAD systems and the Ka-226T utility helicopters, have been put on hold. About 60% of India’s military hardware is Russian-origin.
A top defence official told News18.com that while with Russia, the government is exploring different options, including diplomatic routes, to keep the spares’ supply and deliveries of major equipment like the S-400s going, a bigger challenge would be to get spares from war-ravaged Ukraine.
“The extent of damage to Ukraine’s military infrastructure is yet to be ascertained. It has to be assessed if the production lines for supply of spares for the various equipment and weapon systems in use with the Indian Armed Forces are operational or have seen damages in the conflict,” an official said.
Defence sources said some of the critical equipment that get their spares from Ukraine include the 130mm medium guns, spares for T-72 tanks as well as the T-90 tanks, the OSA-AK surface-to-air missile system, and Tunguska anti-aircraft weapon system.
The gas turbine engines of several ships of the Indian Navy also come from Ukraine and the country has also been providing critical parts for the upgrade of the IAF’s transport aircraft AN-32, a programme which has been nearly completed.
The sources quoted above, however, said that unlike Russia, payments to Ukraine won’t be as affected since the country is paid in dollars and not facing any sanction.
Ukraine, sources said, was also aiming to bag a contract from India on the upgrade of Smerch multiple rocket launcher system.
A defence source said a large part of the defence design bureaus and the manufacturing facilities of the erstwhile Soviet Union are now in Ukraine. “Ukraine had also shown interest in participating in other hi-tech programmes of the Indian Armed Forces, such as in supply of anti-UAV systems and upgrade programme of tanks which are in the pipeline,” the source said.
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