DTN News - ARMS EXPORTS: Russian Weapons Sales Shift Away From East – Arms Official

Asian Defense News: DTN News - ARMS EXPORTS: Russian Weapons Sales Shift Away From East – Arms Official

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 7, 2013: Russia is losing arms markets in Asia and the Middle East, two of its traditional strongholds, but gaining new ones in Latin America and Africa, a Russian arms official said this week ahead of an aviation expo in India, a major buyer of Russian weaponry that has recently been opting for Western hardware.

Russia sold a record $15.16 billion worth of weaponry in 2012 while expanding its foreign client list, the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service (FSMTC) reported on Monday.


“The volume of arms exports has reached $15.16 billion, according to preliminary calculations…which means that our plans have been fulfilled by 111.8 percent,” FSMTC chief Alexander Fomin told a government meeting on state defense contracts.

Russia reported arms sales of $13.2 billion in 2011, enough to maintain its position as the world’s second arms exporter after the United States.

"In the past ten years, we have seen a general increase in exports, which have tripled since 2003,” Fomin said.

“The portfolio of orders for defense-related products has also tripled. Its current value exceeds $46 billion,” he added.

India is the leading purchaser of Russian arms, with Myanmar,Vietnam, Venezuela and Middle East countries also among the Russian defense industry's main clients.

Fomin said Russia's expanded list of its clients in 2012 included Afghanistan, Ghana, Oman, and Tanzania.
The FSMTC also claimed the quality of exported Russian military products has improved, though problems still remain, especially with poor after-sales services.

“We have been issuing fewer licenses to replace or repair exported products, which is an encouraging trend,” Fomin said.

The controversy over the quality of Russia’s defense-related products has been widely-publicized.
Algeria refused delivery of a batch of MiG-29 fighters in 2007 claiming their “inferior quality.”

Russia’s traditionally strong position on the Indian arms market has been recently undermined by failures to fulfil or properly execute several contracts, including the long-delayed delivery of the overhauled aircraft carrier Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy.

Last year, India asked Russia to replace faulty parts on the leased Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine which had affected its operational readiness.

Fomin said his service was drafting new legislation that would allow Russian arms manufacturers to open their own service centers abroad and to import defense-related products to satisfy their own needs. 

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Ria Novosti
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia, US Compete For Indian Defense Contracts

Asian Defense News: DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia, US Compete For Indian Defense Contracts

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Rajeev Sharma - Russia Beyond The Healines

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2013: While Russia and the United States are engaged in intense competition (often cut-throat, in many areas), they are increasingly locking horns on increasingly familiar turf: lucrative defense deals emanating from India.

Both Russia and the U.S. have had their share of successes and failures in winning Indian defense contracts. In 2012, the U.S. won a 1.4-billion-dollar contract from India for 22 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, while Russia received from India a 1.6-billion-dollar deal for 42 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and another deal worth $1.3 billion for 71 Mi-17 helicopters.

The Russian-American see-saw battle for eating into the Indian defense pie is likely to continue for many more years, as both arms exporters are unable to satisfy the Indians by 100 percent. While the U.S. is loath to sell some of its most advanced weapon systems to India and transfer technology, the Russians have been unable to keep their deadlines in supplying weaponry to India.

However, in this context, a big point in favor of the Russians is that they readily transfer technology on which India invariably insists.

The Tejas Engines Deal

Just a few days back, the U.S. finalized a 558-million-dollar deal with India for supplying 99 jet engines to be used in the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas MK II, which is being developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

The deal may well be more than double its present value (or worth about $1.2 billion), as a clause of the contract stipulates that ,though the present order is only for 99 engines, India will have the option of ordering 100 more engines in the future.

The Tejas story, however, is not so much about the U.S.-Russia rivalry, because both the Western powers are engaged with the Indians in their own different ways. Two years ago, India selected the American company General Electric (GE) over its European rival Eurojet 2000 for the LCA Mark II program.

Ideally, India would like to have 42 squadrons of fighter aircraft; but it currently has only 34, which may dip to just 26 in 2017 if the Rafale aircraft are not inducted by then. This explains the strategic importance of the indigenously-developed Tejas for India. India plans to induct two squadrons of the LCA Mark I, to be followed by delivery of LCA Mark II aircraft.

The American involvement in the three-decades-old Tejas project (which has already cost the exchequer over $ 4.5 billion) began some years after India started the project in 1983. Then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked the U.S. for help in the project, as part of his bigger plan to improve ties with the country.

The Americans readily agreed and the U.S. Air Force was selected to help India in testing fly-by-wire technology for LCA. The U.S. also offered GE F-404 jet engines to power LCA prototypes – a proposal that India was prompt in accepting.

The Russian Involvement

Russia, too, is involved in a significant way with the Tejas project.

While the main structure and sub-systems of the aircraft are indigenized, the remaining parts are imported. The most crucial of the imported parts is the aircraft engine that is currently being made by GE. The DRDO has been working on developing a suitable engine called Kaveri, which is undergoing tests in Russia and will be brought back to India after certification.

India and Russia signed an agreement for loan of a TU-16 Russian twinjet on which the Kaveri engine will be mounted. The Indo-Russian agreement also stipulates a high-altitude test facility for testing Kaveri’s operations in hot-and-high conditions. However, the high-altitude test facility in Russia has not been able to give a flawless performance and has failed thus far to meet the envisaged parameters of the engine.

Long-range bomber Tu-16 at the Military planes museum on the Dyagilevo airfield. Source: RIA Novosti / Alexei Kudenko

Confronted with persistent failures and delays, the Indian government decided in late 2008 to isolate the Kaveri engine project from the main LCA project. Until Kaveri gives 100 percent satisfactory results, Tejas will be powered by American engines.

About Tejas

“Tejas” (Sanskrit for “radiance”) is the world’s smallest fighter aircraft. This lightweight, multi-role, single-engine tactical fighter is being designed and developed as a single-seat fighter aircraft by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA); it is being manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian air force to run on GE-F404 engines manufactured by the American company GE.

Tejas can fly at a maximum speed of 2,205 kilometers (1,370 miles) per hour and at a maximum altitude of 15,200 meters (just under 50,000 feet). Its range is 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) and it weighs about 5,450 kilograms, (12,000 pounds) with maximum take-off weight of 13,500 kilograms (about 30,000 pounds).

Tejas has already missed several deadlines, and the latest assessment is that it will become operational later this year, though its full combat-ready status is unlikely to be achieved before 2015.

The unique selling point of the Tejas is its indigenousness. Right now, Tejas is 65 percent Indian, but this figure will soon reach 75 percent. However, VK Saraswat, scientific advisor to the Indian defense minister, insists that no country opts for 100 percent indigenization, since it is not cost effective and requires huge infrastructure.

Future Scenario

The Russian-American rivalries for garnering Indian defense deals are bound to intensify. Currently, over 70 percent of India’s defense equipment is of Russian origin, but this is set to change substantively. In fact, the phenomenon has already started.

India is set to spend tens of billions of dollars within the next few years on modernizing its defense forces. The rules of the game have rapidly changed for the Russians. Any arms-exporting country that wants to increase its defense business ties with India can do so only when it ensures timely delivery of top-quality equipment at highly competitive prices.

Rajeev Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist, author and strategic analyst who regularly writes for several leading international media outfits. He can be reached at bhootnath004@yahoo.com.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Rajeev Sharma - Russia Beyond The Healines
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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