India produces almost 1,000 T-90 tanks, 300 Su-30MKI fighters — Russian envoy
"India has already produced almost 1,000 T-90 tanks and 300 Su-30MKI planes under licenses," Denis Alipov noted
NEW DELHI, March 14. /TASS/. India has already produced almost 1,000 T-90 main battle tanks and 300 Su-30MKI fighter jets under Russian licenses and actively develops joint arms production with Russia, Russia’s Ambassador to the South Asian republic Denis Alipov told TASS on Thursday.
The envoy thus commented on allegations of India’s refusal to buy Russian armaments.
"Such pronouncements are a twisting of facts. India seeks to develop its own defense sector. The emphasis in the sphere of military-technical cooperation is on the ‘Make in India’ and "Self-Reliant India’ initiatives that stipulate maximally local production and the acquisition of the latest technologies. This shapes the policy towards diversifying cooperation with foreign partners. Russia holds a leading place among them and is the top partner in terms of some indicators," the envoy stressed.
"India has already produced almost 1,000 T-90 tanks and 300 Su-30MKI planes under licenses. The practice of setting up joint ventures and business partnerships is also expanding. BrahMos missile systems are the most successful example of this. The Indo-Russian Rifles Joint Venture is also in operation to produce AK-203 assault rifles. We are building up dialog in R&D and working on the prospects of jointly entering the markets of third countries. As compared to Western countries, Russia is ready for maximally full transfer of advanced technologies," the ambassador said.
Russia-India relationships in this sphere remain a pillar of bilateral and especially privileged strategic partnership and a major factor of bolstering India’s defense potential thanks to the groundwork laid decades ago and mutual trust, he stressed.
"Russia holds at least a 50% share on the local arms market. Russia was a pioneer on the way of making production local and transferring military technologies in compliance with India’s modern requirements. We have long implemented and are successfully developing what Western countries are just beginning to do. However, as compared to some of them, we do not set political terms to Indian partners," the Russian envoy said.