ISLAMABAD – Russia should develop defence ties with Pakistan in order topunish India for increasing defence relations with EU, Israel and the US,Experts have said, a local media outlet *reportedlink*onSunday.
While India remains the largest buyer of Russian arms, it has diversifiedits sources of military equipment in recent years. This is perhaps bestexemplified with the cancellation of the Russian-Indian Fifth GenerationFighter Aircraft programme (FGFA).
“We informed Russia that India is no longer a participant in this project,but at the same time we told the Russians that they could continuedeveloping it on their own, and we could rejoin them at a later stage,”said Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in July.
Similarly, the Indian Airforce released a special report on the agreement.
“Having studied all aspects of this project, we came to conclusion that itdoes not meet our requirements, since the FGFA will not be able to createan aircraft that will be able to demonstrate the performance close to thatof American fighters US F-22 and F-35,” read the report.
Indian officials had previously expressed strong dissatisfaction with theproject owing to high cost and limited stealth technology.
“We do not want to offend the Indians, but I believe that against thebackdrop of India’s hesitation about the project of the 5th generationfighter, Russia should promote the Su-35 fighter jet in Pakistan.Otherwise, Chinese, South Korean or even Turkish companies will take thismarket in about five years,” deputy director of the Russian Center forAnalysis of Strategies and Technologies Konstantin Makienko told the ArmyStandard publication.
“India has removed all moral obligations from Russia with its behaviour, soRussia should get rid of self-restraint in its relations with Pakistan. Inthe past, we would often decline profitable contracts with Pakistan for thesake of India, but now we should follow our own interests of commercialprofit,” he added.
However, experts doubt if Pakistan has the intention and the requiredresources to even purchase the jets. A potential sale to Pakistan wouldalso further aggravate defence ties with India.
“Russia’s cooperation with India began back during the times of the SovietUnion. Orders from India and China had saved our military-industrialcomplex, and India always pays attention to how cooperation between Russiaand Pakistan develops, considering this cooperation hazardous to itsinterests at times, Center for Strategic Studies Director Ivan Konovalovtold Pravda.Ru, adding that pursuing defence relations with Pakistan wouldbe too risky a proposition.
“Russia cooperates with Pakistan in the field of multipurpose helicoptersMi-8 and Mi-17, which is not a problem for India,” he said.
“There are American, French and Israeli companies operating on the Indianmarket. Russia takes about 23-25% of the Indian arms market, but India hasbeen strengthening cooperation with other countries. Therefore, if Indiawants to act independently in the field of arms exports and imports, whyshould Russia limit her opportunities?” said Konovalov.
“Yet, there are political and military risks there, and Russia needs todecide which partner is more important. Russia and India failed to developa fifth-generation fighter together. There was another joint project of amilitary transport aircraft that we could not implement either. Yet, Russiaand India have successful joint projects in the development of tanks,missile technologies, aviation and naval equipment. There are many of suchprojects with India,” he added.
Konovalov said that many options exist for Russia to explore defence tieswith Pakistan without raising concerns in New Delhi.
“There are many options for cooperation with Pakistan in the militarysphere, but India is more important for Russia. Russia conducts militaryand technical cooperation with about 70 countries, and India is among thetop. We have no contradictions with this country either in political,military-technical or ideological aspects,” he said.