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Indo-Polish tank deal : Russia reservations

	April 01, 2002

India’s decision to refurbish its T-72 tank fleet with the help of a Polish company has caused concern in Russia’s defence industry, which has always considered India a strong market for its military hardware, writes Arun Mohanty from Moscow

“We are disappointed by the Indian decision but would not like to comment on it,” said a spokesman for Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms export monopoly.

Reports last week said India had concluded a $73-million contract for Polish-made weapons guidance systems to upgrade some 250 T-72 tanks.

Russia is worried about losing its dominant share of India’s burgeoning arms market as New Delhi begins looking to other suppliers for its military hardware needs. In recent years, India has concluded lucrative defence deals with Israel and France.

Russian media and officials have expressed concern at an increasing number of Indian defence contracts slipping into the hands of other foreign countries. Former Soviet republics like Ukraine too have emerged as strong bidders for Indian defence contracts.

The Indian Army’s armoured units are equipped with some 800 T-72 tanks that were either purchased from the erstwhile Soviet Union or built under licence in India.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia has taken on the responsibility of spares and other materials needed for the maintenance of the tanks. The Indian T-72 tanks require up-gradation to keep them in service till 2015.

“We had offered to modernise the Indian Army’s T-72 tanks, and had participated in the tender but someone else won the bid,” the Rosoboronexport spokesman said.

“When a client goes to the market, he purchases the article of his choice. So we would not like to comment on the Indian decision,” he said.

The Polish firm that manufactures the fire control systems to be used in the T-72 upgrade programme won the bid probably because of the attractive financial terms offered by the government, say Russian defence experts.

Poland’s Finance Ministry has opened a $200-million credit line for selling Polish arms industry products to India.

The Polish-made fire control system also needs no modification of the main battle tank, thus keeping costs down.

Poland’s Deputy Defence Minister Janusz Zemke recently announced that his country would sell India arms worth $247 million. Warsaw and New Delhi also signed agreements on Poland providing technical assistance to produce radars and supplying parachutes to the Indian Army.



Top Russian security official to visit India

India and Russia will discuss regional security and cooperation in the fight against terrorism during a three-day visit to New Delhi by Russia’s Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo beginning April 2.

Rushailo will hold detailed talks with his Indian counterpart, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest, particularly the developments in Afghanistan.

Mishra visited Moscow in September for consultations between the Security Councils of the two countries.

Cooperation between the two security set-ups has become an important element in the strategic partnership between India and Russia, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

The two Security Councils had signed a protocol of cooperation in 2000 and set up two working groups, one on regional security and the other on international terrorism. The last meeting of the two groups was held in New Delhi in January.