Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will arrive in New Delhi on Thursday on a two-day visit during which both sides are likely to conclude the long-delayed agreement on the sole of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
The Indian Navy has started the construction -- at its Cochin shipyard -- of a totally indigenous aircraft carrier with a capacity of 25 aircraft.
One hopes the big daddies of South Block and DRDO realise why radical reforms are so crucial.
Defence Minister A K Antony has sacked a senior Navy officer for having sexual relations with a Russian woman in Moscow as head of the Indian team overseeing the refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov there.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left for a three-day visit to Russia during which the two sides are expected to sign a framework agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and three pacts in the field of defence.Dr Singh, who will be undertaking his sixth visit to Russia since 2004, said he will also meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, under whose presidency the annual dialogue was set up.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday said a Navy inquiry has established a senior officer's connections with a Russian woman, but it was yet to be probed whether the link had influenced the price hike of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
The Indian Navy will formally induct the Russian-made MiG-29K naval fighter jets for deployment on Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier on February 19 in Goa.
Adopting a tough posture on dilly-dallying by Russia on handing over of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Monday said such a delay would make India "ponder where our defence relations are going to" with Moscow.
On whether government proposes to levy penalties on the Russian side for failing to stick to the delivery schedule, he said, "Liquidated damages clause for delays in delivery is incorporated in the contract. As per contract, LD is to be ascertained and levied within six months of ship's delivery."
The long-delayed aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov is planned to be handed over to the Indian navy around mid-November in Russia where it has achieved significant milestones such as night operations of fighter aircraft during its ongoing sea trials there.
India will be well advised to welcome Putin's second coming as Russian president wholeheartedly, yet try to build up its independent capabilities, says Tarun Vijay
India's first indigenous aircraft carrier is expected to be ready within eight years.
India and Russia will sign a pact on Thursday to extend their military cooperation programme till 2020 as Defence Minister A K Antony and his counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov discussed a wide range of issues, including the upgrade of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
The Indian Navy is on its way to becoming a major air force, with the fleet air arm having achieved several landmarks this year, reports Ajai Shukla.
INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, is undergoing sea trials before delivery to the Indian Navy.
In diplomacy, like in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes. Only interests guide policy. The same principle must true for India-Russia relations in the coming Putin era, says Tarun Vijay.
Coming three months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia in December 2009, Putin's India trip has a wider agenda that includes taking bilateral technological and energy cooperation to a new level.
Besides the deals worth $4 billion, including the final delivery agreement for Admiral Gorshkov, the two sides will also sign the final agreement for joint manufacture of fifth generation fighters, local media reported.
Russia has informed India that the crash of a MiG 29K fighter jet, which was manufactured for the Indian Navy, was due to pilot error and there was no need for it to ground its planes in India.
Diplomat Madhuri Gupta, arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, joins a list of several top Indian officials accused of leaking sensitive information or falling into honey trap in the past few decades.
India has already purchased 16 MiG-29K aircraft from Russia for $536 million. The total deal, including the warship, was for $1.5 billion in 2004.
The likely US offer of the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and its acceptance by India will torpedo the friendship between India and Russia, reports on Tuesday said.
The delay in the refitting of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and a range of bilateral issues came up for discussion when Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday met Russian vice premier Sergei Ivanov in Moscow.
In a boost to the sagging defence relationship between India and Russia, the two nations on Friday signed a contract for supply of 80 MI-17V-5 medium lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force. Valued at $1 billion, the agreement between the two sides comes at a time when New Delhi and Moscow are squabbling over several defence related deals signed earlier.
India is to buy 30 more carrier borne Mig-29K (Fulcrum-D) fighters for the Indian Navy and an agreement to this effect will be firmed up during the upcoming visit of Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's to India next week.
During his Russian visit from March 13-19, Admiral Mehta, also the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, is also expected to discuss the vital issues of cooperation with his Russian counterpart Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky and fly the MiG-29KUB fighter developed for deployment on Gorshkov carrier after its induction as INS Vikramaditya some time in 2012. The issues of seagoing trials of Admiral Gorshkov by the Russian Navy prior to its delivery will also be taken up.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed Russia as a "time-tested and reliable friend" and said he intends to take the relationship to a higher level.
The Indian Navy has been hit by yet another alleged sex scandal as the wife of a senior officer has charged her husband with forcing her to get "sexually involved" with his colleagues, prompting Defence Minister A K Antony to order a probe.
Under attack from opposition parties over his response on the killing of Indian soldiers, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said the armed forces have the freedom to respond appropriately to a developing situation along the Line of Control with Pakistan.
The long-delayed and much-awaited $2.3 billion aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was on Saturday inducted into the Indian Navy in Severodvinsk, Russia, in a strategic boost to India's maritime warfare capabilities.
Beyond the British and Russian strands interwoven into the Indian Navy's equipment profile and the strong drive towards indigenisation evident today, its future in aircraft carriers appears increasingly linked with America.
INS Vikramaditya is not the only thing on Defence Minister AK Anthony's agenda during his current visit to Moscow. Also on the anvil is the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft joint development project which, if finalised and signed, could emerge as India's largest joint defence programme costing around 11 billion dollars, reports Nandan Unnikrishnan.
The MiG29K and MiG29KUB, the aircraft carrier's primary fighters, spent more time in the hangar than in the air, with fleet serviceability remaining below 50 per cent, reports Ajai Shukla.
The aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Admiral Gorshkov, expected to join the Indian Navy later this year, is already late by five years and its price has risen three-fold, from $947 million (about Rs 5,735 crore) in 2004 to $2.3 billion (Rs 13,928.8 crore) today.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
With the launch of the first indigenous aircraft today, India will join a club of nations like the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France that possess nuclear-powered submarines
There were 35 defects that still remained to be resolved. Of these, 29 could not have been resolved during the monsoon since they required testing in absolutely calm seas. Nor is the Khanderi being commissioned with a full complement of its primary weapon, the torpedo.
