Russia and India declared today that they have reached an agreement, according to which Russia will sell India 10 billion dollars worth of weapons. There are no specific details yet about dates or the kinds of weapons; however this is the largest military contract in Russian history. Some analysts say that Russia might not have enough money in the budget to manufacture that amount of “goods”.
India is discussing the possibility of developing the new 5th generation military jet with Russia, after which both countries will have the construction information. Russia hasn't made up its mind yet, because on one hand Russian scientists and engineers like to keep the secrets in the country, but on the other hand – such research and development may cost more than 20 billion dollars, and Russia doesn’t have that much money for the project.
Another possibility is that the deal involves selling nuclear submarines to India. In the past Russia sold an aircraft career to India for 1 billion dollars. India already owns a license to manufacture Russian Sukhoi 30 military jets in their own country; it is now feasible that Russia may sell licenses to India for manufacturing tanks, machine guns, and other equipment. This way Russia wouldn’t get as much profit, but it’s easier on the budget.
In the last few months New Delhi had hinted that the new military equipment provider for the country would be the US, so seems like a dramatic shift from the original plans. But India has been buying military information and battlefield management technology from Israel for several years. The spin in Russia media is that Moscow “stole” this business from the US. There are two interesting question though, 1) why does India need $10 billion worth of weapons; and 2) why does Russia equip the Indian and Chinese armies, but not its own. I’m not an Indian, so I can’t speak for them on the first issue, but as a Russian, I believe that when the country is in chaos, and there is no long-term thinking on foreign policy, weapons are sold not according to logic, but according to where the money is at the moment, since private individuals are making millions in kickbacks on each contract.
