Page 2 of
2 Energy tops Indo-Russian priority
list By Sudha
Ramachandran
Asia Times Online. It
will help the government tackle the criticism that
the left parties have heaped on the India-US deal.
Besides cooperation with Russia in
civilian nuclear energy, India is taking other
steps to enhance its energy security. Russian oil
major Roseneft and India's Oil and Natural Gas
Videsh signed a memorandum of understanding in
relation to oil-exploration projects not only in
Russia and India but also in third countries.
India has a 20% stake in the Sakhalin-I oil block
in Russia. Moscow is keen on Indian investment in
the Sakhalin-III project as
well
and in the development of the Vankor oil and gas
fields in eastern Siberia.
The already
robust bilateral defense relationship has also
been taken to a new level. Russia has been India's
top supplier of military hardware for decades. But
in recent years, Indian defense officials have
been complaining about the quality of Russian
military equipment and delays in the supply of
weapons and spare parts. India is looking to other
countries, such as Israel, France and the US, to
meet its defense needs, and their share in India's
defense market is growing rapidly.
India
and Russia have reached agreement on collaborating
on a fifth-generation fighter aircraft with
stealth features developed by Sukhoi. Designated
PAK-FA, the fighter aircraft is described as a
rival to the US F-35 Lighting-II Joint Strike
Fighter. The multibillion-dollar program is said
to be the largest in Indo-Russian military
cooperation, dwarfing the ongoing collaboration in
development of the BrahMos missile.
The
two countries have also signed a protocol for the
joint development and production of a 100-seater
multi-role transport aircraft and a contract for
the licensed production of RD-33 engines for
MiG-29s at Nashik, India.
The licensed
production of RD-33 engines will provide a boost
to India's effort toward indigenization of its
military equipment. Stratfor has drawn attention
to the advanced technology involved in the
production of RD-33 engines:
Operationally useful thrust
vectoring - the ability to angle the thrust of
the jet engine, substantially increasing the
maneuverability of the aircraft - is one of
military technology's crowning achievements.
Russia was the first to master real thrust
vectoring and build it into a serving combat
aircraft design: the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, which uses
single-axis or up-and-down vectoring. The
technology has only now made its appearance in
the US military in the most advanced aircraft in
the US Air Force inventory - the F-22 Raptor,
and then only in single-axis form. The RD-33, on
the other hand, can vector the thrust in all
directions, adding even more
maneuverability.
It is this technology
that India now has access to. Trouble over
jet-engine design has plagued India's indigenous
Light Combat Aircraft project. "The close,
hands-on experience in manufacturing the RD-33"
will ease some of India's problems in this regard.
"Having a manufacturing facility on its
own soil will give the Indian military industrial
complex a new - although far from complete -
independence. India has often cultivated multiple
defense suppliers in order to avoid shortages or
sanctions by any one partner. Such design
expertise is a further step away from reliance on
foreign sources," observes Stratfor.
While
India and Russia have much to smile about with
regard to their cooperation in the energy and
defense fields, trade ties remain an area of
concern. India-Russia trade stood at an abysmal
US$3.8 billion in 2006. Both countries have set a
target of $10 billion to be achieved by 2010. But
boosting trade by 30% per annum for the next three
years appears to be a rather tall order.
Putin's visit to India indicates that
India's blossoming relations with the United
States will not be at the cost of its
long-standing ties with Russia. It is not either
Russia or the US that Indian diplomacy will strive
for but Russia and the US. India's
aspirations of becoming a global economic
powerhouse will require it to cozy up with the
Americans, but for reliability it will continue to
look to the Russians. It will require a tricky
tightrope walk on the part of India.
For
decades, India agonized over Washington's
"hyphenated relationship" with India and Pakistan.
Now Washington might have to come to terms with
India's hyphenated relationship with the US and
Russia.
Sudha Ramachandran is an
independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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