Russian defence sector to ‘Make in India’? | Fusion - WeRIndia

The Indian Defense Minister, Arun Jaitley, invited firms from Russia on Wednesday to join together with Indian companies for the purpose of weapon production and military development with top quality, under the “Make in India” framework.

During his visit there for three days, Jaitley stated that Russia defence sector has an advantage in a partnership with India, being India’s largest, oldest, and most trusted defense partner in terms of equipment and structure.

While listing out the changes in India’s sector of defense production, he said that Russian companies can be the “natural partners” of Indian companies, in order to create a large industrial base for defense purposes.

Jaitley puts emphasis on the importance of keeping good foreign policies with Russia, since the broad and long-term cooperation of India and Russia has advanced from simple practices of buying and selling to the joining of the production of their advanced systems of defense.

In his first meeting with the bilateral Science Technology Commission, which he co-chaired with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, decisions were made to finalize many cooperation projects, including engineering in the fields of space, marine technology, and engineering for the deep ocean.

On Friday, Jaitley will be co-chairing (with the Russian General Sergey Shoygu) the seventeenth meeting of the intergovernmental commission on military and technical cooperation, in which a discussion will be held on bilateral defense projects.

As reported earlier by the Times of India, Russia and India are now finalizing their deals together for the joining of their defense systems, which are worth about $10,500,000,000.

These costs include the five S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems, four Grigorivich-class frigates, and two hundred Kamov-226T light helicopters.

There is also the lease of the Indian Navy of a second submarine powered by nuclear energy, alongside the first one, the INS Chakra.

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