Thousands
throng Rajpath, the wide thoroughfare in the
heart of India's capital, New Delhi, on the
country's Republic Day every year on 26 January.
On display is an impressive parade of the country's
military might, besides tableaux that present
the country's cultural diversity.
It is always a stirring moment,
marking the passing of another year, and the
ushering in of a new one, in the country's developmental
march. The parade passes by a podium on which
the President, surrounded by foreign dignitaries
and senior Indian ministers, takes the salute.
The chief guest this year is Russia's
president, Vladimir Putin. With a spate of news
releases flooding news offices all over the
country, mentioning a series of new Indo-Russian
defence - and very likely - nuclear deals, Putin's
day out on 26 January 2007 may well turn out
to be a memorable one.
Fifth generation fighter
The two countries have a long-standing defence
arrangement that goes back almost five decades.
Currently there are about 200 Indo-Russian defence
programmes valued at nearly $18 billion. They
extend till the year 2010, when a fresh agreement
may be signed. Grandstand deals in recent years
include a contract for the modernisation and
sale of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier
(renamed INS Vikramaditya), and deals for Sukhoi-30
MKI fighters, the T-90S main battle tank and
the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos.
Ratcheting up the cooperation
level, Russia and India have now agreed to jointly
develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft,
designed by the Sukhoi Bureau. The fighter,
according to Russian defence minister Sergei
Ivanov, will take to the skies not later than
2009. India and Russia will jointly research
and test the aircraft, currently in the third
year of development in Russia. Eventually, it
will be jointly produced by Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd and Sukhoi.
Glonass
With India's commitment towards the 5th generation
fighter made, Russian defence minister Ivanov
says India is special. "At present India
is the only country with which we want to develop
all aspects of Glonass. This demonstrates the
general nature of our relations and our willingness
to develop cooperation with India in such sensitive
areas," he said in Bangalore on 23 January.
"The ministry of defence has now removed
all limitations on the precision of information
received from Glonass."
This is another significant development,
with considerable ramifications for India's
emergence as a global power. So far Indian forces
rely on the US Global Positioning System, with
its network of 28 satellites. As warfare steps
into the electronic era, and the doctrine of
'network-centric warfare' moving centre-stage,
the use of satellite based systems have become
an imperative for armed forces.
Some versions of the much touted
BrahMos, for example, could turn out to be a
lame duck if they are denied access to a satellite-based
information and navigation systems. In any clash
with US-backed adversaries, India knows that
it would be able to access the GPS system only
on a 'selective basis', as the GPS allows selective
blocking. Though India is also a partner in
the European Union's Galileo system, which will
be ready in 2008, it is designed only for civilian
use. Hence Glonass assumes greater significance.
RD-33 engines and the MRCA
contract
All eyes, for now, are on the IAF's 126 multi-role
combat aircraft (MRCA) tender, for which the
MiG-35 is a hot contender. With the two countries
signing an agreement for licensed production
of RD-33 engines in India, the balance of favour
tilts ever so much in favour of the MiG-35.
The RD-33MK engine will power
the MiG-29K/KUB naval versions, designed and
built for the Indian Navy. It will eventually
power the MiG-35 too, as and when it gets into
series production. The Indian Air Force is already
in the process of upgrading its operational
MiG-29 fighters with RD-29 power plants, which
is the initial version of the RD-33MK.
The RD-33MK has by now been overhauled
three times, resulting in a two-fold increase
in its rated power. This more fuel-efficient
power plant, reportedly, cuts operational costs
massively compared to the RD-29, and has double
the service life. The RD-33MK can now easily
power the Indian air force's fleet of MiG-29/Fulcrum
and MiG-27/Flogger aircraft, as well as the
navy's on-order MiG-29K/KUBs. Eventually it
will also power the MiG-35, if it should win
the IAF's MRCA order.
BrahMos
Russia
has clarified that it will not oppose the export
of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to "specific
third countries", in defence minister Sergei
Ivanov's words, setting at rest an unseemly
controversy that had erupted recently.
Officials of Rosoboronexport,
now Russia's sole agency synchronising its arms
export, had accused Indian officials of trashing
other Russian missiles sold abroad, in an attempt
to boost the prospects of the BrahMos. Reports
would suggest that countries such as Malaysia,
Chile, South Africa and Kuwait have evinced
interest in the BrahMos.
Shivthanu Pillai, CEO, BrahMos
Aerospace, the Indo-Russian joint venture company
that produces the missile, claims that there
is a world market for some 10,000 supersonic
missiles, of which the BrahMos class alone would
account for some 2,000. He expects the BrahMos
to corner a market share of about 1,000 in a
couple of years. According to Pillai, global
inventories hold some 80,000 subsonic missiles,
most of which were "outdated".
The land and naval versions of
the BrahMos have already been developed, while
work is progressing on the air- and submarine-launched
versions. According to Pillai, the air-launched
version should undergo tests in 2008. Given
the leverage that countries exercise through
their supply of strategic weapons, the value
of the BrahMos as an asset should be fairly
evident.
Titanium
Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov has also
announced that India and Russia will sign an
agreement on creating a joint venture for producing
titanium dioxide and titanium products. The
output would be collected by Russia to partially
offset India's "rupee debt" to Russia.
Reportedly over 10 per cent of the debt will
be written off through the joint venture, which
will produce 40,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide
every year. Of this amount, 30,000 tonnes will
be supplied to Russia.
According to available statistics,
this amount should be enough to cover half of
Russia's overall need for titanium dioxide,
as it consumes about 55,000 tonnes of the material
every year.
The erstwhile Soviet Union had
pioneered the use of titanium in military and
submarine applications in the 1950s and '60s.
Titanium is used to create strong, lightweight
parts, ranging from armour plating to components
for the aerospace, transportation and chemical
processing industries. The Su-30MKI's airframe,
for instance, is made of titanium and high-strength
aluminium alloys.
A legacy
A traditional relationship between the two countries,
that has managed to survive geopolitical fallouts
resulting from the end of the Cold War, needs
to be given a fresh 
lease
of life. Putin, and India, appreciate that the
task before them is to put their country's relationship
with each other on a more strategic footing,
and rescue it from the banalities of the 'client-customer'
relationship that have characterised it for
quite some time now.
By the looks of it, they
may well be on their way towards realising their
objective.
