Indian Military Cannot Operate Without Russian Equipment: US Report

28 Oct 2021

According to US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, “Indian militarycannot operate effectively without Russian-supplied equipment.”

The CRS report stated that India’s military will continue to “rely on Russian weapons systems in the near and middle terms”.

The report comes as India plans to induct the Russian-made S-400 air defence systems which could trigger US sanctions under Section 231 of CAATSA.

“Despite a trend away from Russian arms imports, India in late 2019 submitted $800 million toward the full $5.4 billion contract for S-400 systems (it also entered a new $3.1 billion contract for indigenous production of 464 Russian-designed T-90s tanks),” it said.

The report also noted that the Indian Navy’s “ten guided-missile destroyers are Russian Kashin class, and six of its 17 frigates are Russian Talwar class” and the only nuclear-powered submarine is on lease from Russia while Indian Air Force’s 667-plane FGA fleet is 71 per cent Russian-origin comprising of Su-30s, MiG-21s and MiG-29s.

The report further added that India, Australia, France, Germany and Japan are also developing hypersonic missile technology.

“Reportedly, India is also developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle programme and successfully tested Mach 6 scramjet in June 1919 and September 2020,” the report revealed.

The Congressional report said that India operates 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and has the ability to test speeds of up to Mach 13.

Courtesy: wionnewsweb