Within the Aero India 2019 international aerospace exhibition, which was held in the territory of the Yelahanka airbase in the city of Bangalore on February 20-24, the delegation of JSC Rosoboronexport (part of the Rostec Corporation) conducted a series of productive negotiations and consultations with the Indian partners on military and technical cooperation, which resulted in signing a number of contractual documents.
On the very first day of the show the Russian national exhibit was visited by Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov and Minister of Defence of the Republic of India Nirmala Sitharaman, which contributed to the collective success of the Russian delegation’s work at Aero India 2019 as well as underscored a special high profile of the Russian-Indian mil-tech cooperation.
“Russia is ready to offer to India not only the state-of-the-art military equipment, but also the technologies of production, i.e. the expertise, which we can share with each other in the framework of a wide industrial partnership in line with the Make in India policy. The potential for the development of cooperation in this area is huge, and we are focused on its full achievement,” said Rosoboronexport’s Director General Alexander Mikheev.
The main themes of the meetings with the leadership of the Ministry of Defence, Air Force and Navy, held in Bangalore, were the promising projects on the supplies and production in India of various types of the Russian military equipment, primarily within the implementation of the Make in India state programme, and on the after-sale services, maintenance and modernization. In particular, the parties went on with pro-active consultations on the project, which implies production of Ka-226T helicopters at the Russian-Indian joint venture Indo-Russian Helicopters Limited, for which purpose the Russian Helicopters Holding signed a number of appropriate memoranda with the Indian partners.
The Russian exhibition stands, represented by such leaders of the industry as the Public Joint Stock Company United Aircraft Corporation, JSC United Engine Corporation, JSC Russian Helicopters, JSC Almaz-Antey Corporation, JSC “SPC “Techmash”, JSC Shvabe and others, familiarized Indian participants and visitors with hundreds of Russia’s defence products, ranging from planes and helicopters to air defence systems.
Apart from that, the static demonstration, arranged by the organizers, hosted full-scale specimen of the sophisticated Russian-made aircraft, which are in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces, i.e. Su-30MKI and MiG-29UPG warplanes and Mi-17V-5 helicopters. Those specimen, piloted by Indian airmen, took part in the opening ceremony of the air show and the programme of demonstration flights, while a team of Indian female parachute jumpers performed the first in the Aero India history female jump from the height of 1,5 km (5000 feet), to where they were delivered by a Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter. “Willing horses of the Indian Air Force and its backbone,” that’s what the local Indian newspapers in Bangalore called the Russian aviation equipment.
In general, the wok of the Russian delegation at Aero India 2019 proved that Russia and India may be rightly proud of the highest level of friendly and trusted relations, which also spread on such a sensitive sphere as defence and security. With this in mind, the most obvious confirmation of a wide-scale character of the bilateral partnership is the portfolio of India’s orders for the Russian military equipment, which equals to 10 billion US dollars.
