SpArK
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- May 5, 2010
- Messages
- 22,519
- Reaction score
- 18
- Country
- Location
Russia to deliver ammunition worth $1 billion to India
June 29, 2012
ITAR-TASS
In one of the largest arms-deals in the last 2 years, Vedomosti reports that Russia has finalised a contract for supply of ammunition worth $1 billion to India.
At the beginning of this year Russia and India concluded the package of contracts to the tune of one billion dollars for the delivery of tanks and artillery shells, anti-tank missiles of various types and other ammunition for the Ground Troops, a manager of an enterprise of the defence industry told the Vedomosti daily. A source close to the Rosoboronexport leadership confirmed this report to the Vedomosti daily.
Rosoboronexport official Vyacheslav Davidenko stated that India is Russias important partner in military-technical cooperation in various spheres, but refrained from comments on this contract.
Rosoboronexport Director General Anatoly Isaikin told the Vedomosti daily before that from the beginning of the year the state mediator concluded new contracts for the delivery of weapons at the cost of about five billion dollars. A source close to the state mediator noted that this contract with India is one of the largest export contacts, which Rosoboronexport concluded in 2011-2012. Along with this contract several major contracts for the delivery of weapons for the Ground Troops and the Air Defence Troops at the cost of more than one billion dollars were signed with Algeria last autumn.
Despite its own ammunition producing industry the Indian army experiences some problems with the supplies from time to time, and the question was debated even in the parliament in the beginning of this year, director of the Centre of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Ruslan Pukhov said. For the provision with weapons of the current staff the Indian army lacked several thousands of anti-tank missiles of Russian types alone, and the available Indian capacities could not cover this deficit, the expert explained. Along with Russia India buys ammunition in European countries and Israel and concluded a very massive contract for the supplies of anti-tank missiles at the cost of more than one billion dollars with Israel last year, the expert said. He does not rule out that the purchases of such rapidly used weapons as ammunition will be continued by Indian military, particularly from Russian suppliers in the future.
Such contracts are particularly important for the Russian ammunition producing industry, which experiences the deficit of orders from the Russian Defence Ministry, which decided not to buy major amounts of ammunition in next few years until the end of the scrapping of shells and missiles with the expired dates of storage, the manager of the Russian defence enterprise said.
Russia to deliver ammunition worth $1 billion to India | Russia & India Report
