India to Buy Russian Military Helicopters
KABUL: (Middle East Press) India plans to purchase 48 Russian medium-lift Mi-17 V-5 military helicopters in a deal reportedly worth USD 1.1 billion and expected to be fulfilled by the next year, says an Indian official.
While confirming the deal and its estimated delivery date, Indian Air Force spokesman Simranpal Singh Birdi refused to reveal the price tag for the transport helicopters in a Tuesday interview with Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The Indian official’s confirmation came a day after India’s daily The Economic Times reported on Monday that the deal is worth over USD 1 billion.
Verifying the reported cost of the major arms deal, a Russian defense industry analyst was cited in press reports as saying that the cost “makes sense,” pointing out that each of the transport helicopters are priced at nearly USD 23 million.
Meanwhile, India reportedly maintains over 300 Russian Mi-17 and its predecessor Mi-8 helicopters in its military arsenal. The aircraft are known for their versatility, operating well over desert as well as mountainous terrain, such as the areas near India’s borders with China and Pakistan.
Moreover, Russian media outlets reported in May that New Delhi was in negotiations to acquire nearly 200 smaller Ka-226T helicopters, which are manufactured by the same company that makes the Mi-17, for a total cost of about USD 470 million.
India remains the world’s biggest importer of military hardware by volume and has purchased nearly 70 percent of the armaments from Russia over the past five years, according to a March report by the global security think tank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
This is while India imported three times more arms than its arch regional rival Pakistan during the same period, the SIPRI report added.
The development comes as India and Pakistan remain locked in a border conflict over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Both nations administer parts of the region separately but claim it in its entirety.
