During security consultations held in Beijing on February 21, China and Russia agreed on enhancing communication and collaboration on arms control and non-proliferation and reinforcing their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination – the highest level of diplomatic engagement for China.
Behind the curtain of Sino-Russian officialdom, however, words do not reflect the facts. The Kremlin is in fact continuing to arm India and, through military cooperation with Delhi, other Chinese adversaries in the Indo-Pacific region – a dynamic that once again questions the real substance of the much-trumpeted entente between the Chinese dragon and the Russian bear.
Apart from the huge amount of lethal weapons that Moscow keeps selling to Delhi, the Indo-Russian duo is also moving forward with the buildup of sophisticated weapons in concert. And to China’s dismay, these jointly developed arm systems will not only beef up the Indian armed forces’ capabilities, but those of other Asian-Pacific countries as well.
BrahMos’ upgrading
In particular, China’s People’s Liberation Army will have to monitor developments regarding the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and its possible impact on geopolitical hot spots such as the Himalayan region, the eastern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, where Beijing’s strategic interests overlap with those of India and a number of Southeast Asian neighbors.
BrahMos is one of the world’s fastest anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles. It has been co-developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s Machine-Building Research and Development Consortium, which launched the BrahMos Aerospace joint venture in 1998, and has a range of 290 kilometers. An upgraded variant of this cruise projectile, with a range of 450km, will be tested on March 10.
At the recent Aero India exhibition, DRDO chairman S Christopher said a further version of BrahMos was under development. In his words, it will be capable of hitting a target 800km away and be ready for production within two and a half years.
BrahMos can currently be launched only from land or sea, but Delhi and Moscow are test-firing a new variant mounted on the Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft. If testing proves successful, it will probably be inducted by the Indian Air Force this year. Furthermore, in the Indo-Russian plans, a lighter version of BrahMos will be integrated on Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 PAK FA fighter jet once operational, according to Russian sources.
Among other advantages, BrahMos’ improvements would strengthen India’s ability to penetrate deep into China’s (and Pakistan’s) territory, which has already been ramped up with the purchase of five Russian-built S-400 long-range air defense missile systems.
BrahMos in the South China Sea
It is now emerging, however, that China could end up grappling with BrahMos’ significant potential in the South China Sea, as some littoral countries in the area that are locked in territorial disputes with Beijing have reportedly shown interest in acquiring the Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile.
Moscow’s approval is required for the sale of BrahMos missiles. An informal go-ahead in this regard was given by Alexander Leonov, chief executive of the Machine-Building Research and Development Consortium, on January 27, when he stressed that Russia and India might start exporting BrahMos cruise missiles to third countries.
BrahMos Aerospace spokesman Praveen Pathak recently upheld Leonov’s comments. Speaking to Russia’s Sputnik News at Aero India, he revealed that seven countries equipped with Su-30s, including some from the Asia-Pacific region, would be keen to buy BrahMos missiles. And all clues point to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, which all have Su-30 fighters in their fleets. Last year, Russian news agency TASS singled out the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as other potential Southeast Asian buyers of BrahMos projectiles.
Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur are both claimants to islands in the South China Sea, along with the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei, while Jakarta has a more neutral position on the territorial row against mainland China there. Still, Chinese claims to waters around the Indonesian archipelago of Natuna prompted Jakarta to stage military exercises off these islands last autumn.
In this context, Indian arms sales to Vietnam are of particular concern to China. Indeed, India has been in talks on selling its Akash missile defense system to the Vietnamese government, in what would be Delhi’s first ever missile transfer to a foreign nation; but it is actually BrahMos’ export to Hanoi that would heighten the level of confrontation with Beijing.
Challenging China’s patience
India’s arms-sale approach toward Southeast Asia is consistent with its “Look East” policy, devised to deepen economic and security cooperation in the region to counter China’s growing clout. The Russian contribution to this scheme is apparently contradictory because of its close relations with Beijing, but Moscow appears willing to run the risk of irritating its Chinese “strategic partner” in order to increase arms sales, which are Russia’s only export driver along with natural resources, and the triangulation with India could help the Kremlin expand its presence in the Southeast Asian security market.
Until now China has been largely silent on Russia’s “defense affairs” with India, at least officially. It remains to be seen how long Beijing will tolerate this situation, especially if its contenders in the South China Sea start to amass more lethal and cutting-edge Indo-Russian arms in their warehouses.
But the author is largely silent about China’s direct and indirect supply of lethal & nuclear weapons to Pakistan .. If China can supply a weapon to India’s enemy the India too can ….
The real range of Bramhos is 550 km not 450 km. And there are two more versions in development. Bramhos M (290 KM smaller missile) and Bramhos Air Launched Missile.
Apart from this there is a Bramhos H (hypersonic, 400 KM range) missile in pipeline.
Also, India is developing a Klub Class like missile but with a 1000 km range called Pralay. It will be a cruise missile with flight path being subsonic and last phase it tavels at supersonic speed with maneuverability.
Nirbhay is another missile on which India has got definite Russian Input after few failures. So does the K4 / K5 missiles it is making. Not to mention the nuclear Submarines it is making or planning to make, there is substantial russian consultancy involved.
FGFA, a two seater version of PAKFA is another area of cooperation, Su 30MKI upgrade to Super 30 standards with potential buy in of the super 30 std jets (50+ fighter jets) as direct imports by India is under discussion. All remaining 270 jets India has will be upgraded in phased manner in HAL, India.
Direct buy in of 500 T90 MS tanks and discussions on upgrading more then 1000 indian T90S to T90 MS standards are in progress.
And lastly, the S400 BMD india is buying. It is different from the one China is getting. The radar systems of this system is Israeli and India will get additional missiles (77N6-N, 77N6-NI) along with the standard pack (40N6E, the 9M96E2, the 48N6E3 and the 48N6E2 missiles).
All in all, Indo Russian relationship is strong and not wearing off anytime soon.
Wrong. Max range of Brahmos is 290 km.
Jomet George You are right. China can not behave like a dictator. India must strengthen the militaries of friendly countiies like Vietnam, Indonesia and others.The economic strength of China needs to be weakened on fast speed by reducing Export Import from Them..
Shawn Napper Please note that BrahMos is jointly developed with russia and India is not a sole developer. This missile is based on Russian P-800 Oniks (whose actual range is 550 km). Russia, being a member of MTCR(missile technology control regime), was not able to help other non members of MTCR to develope missiles having range beyond 300 kms.However now that India is a MTCR member, both Russia & India can go ahead and achieve real range without changing the current missile dimensions.
Hey Emanuele Scimia tell those pieces of excrement (your hans masters) to FO from Balochistan Kashmir Tibet Uyghuiristan Inner Mongolia IOR and ScS. Their "secutiry" will be automatically guaranteed. Russia HATES execrable scum hans like everybody else does. Dead han/chines is best han/chinese. This world will be FAR better flushed clean of this fecal matter of monkeys (han/chinese). AND PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!! Russians know that hans are less trustworthy than a dirty two-headed pit viper and how much they wish to take away the oil and gas rich Siberian regions. THEY ARE NO ALLIES BY ANY STRETCH!!!!!!!!! AND han/chinese can DO NOTHING about it!!!!!!!!!
Hi,
India does not need to acheive parity with China. Just like China established asymmetry with USA, India is trying to do the same. As of now, China a extensive Radar tracking system acoss Sino Indian border and supposedly placed conventional powered NLOS-BSM missiles to deter India. While India as placed concentrated troops in higher number across Sino India border. This is not sustainable.
So we need offensive missile power. Bramhos, Pralay, Nirbhay, Pinaka, Smerch, these items fulfill these requirement.
It will take India at least another 10 years to acheive this asymmetry in total.
I doubt India/Russia will head well,china will put pressure on Russia to wind down its India operation & for Russia annoying china may not be in its best interest with the Americans breathing down their throat.Moreover i think lot of Indian elitist would have concluded china’s weaponry may have achieved parity with the west with all their defense program successful like J-20/J-31,Aircraft carriers,Advanced Missiles like DF series,Submarines,Space weapons,Armed drones etc etc.Also if america itself takes 10-15 years to build a new aircraft carrier….there will be concern among asian neighbors it may have lost the tech edge also.
No Indian leader whatever he may say for public consumption has to face the harsh reality……assuming the world exists & has to be continued neither russians or americans want to pick a quarrel with 1.5BN chinese…….so India will act wisely neither aligning with Russia,America long term which improves chinese perception about India not tommorow but over long run.
Hey monkey-excrement-born han filth use your real name and id. INDIA WILL DO EVERYTHING NEEDED to keep herself AND Kashmir and Balochistan free of fecal matter (hans). ANd will also help flush clean countries like Tibet/Uyghuristan/Inner-Mongolia of fecal matter (hans again) in time to come. US-Russia relations will get better under Trump and while he will not be reelected a better atmosphere will exist between the two nations after his tenure. US is light-years ahead of inferior scum-sucking hans who have just stopped swining from trees and come out of the woods. They have NOTHING to fear of stinky han monkeys. In fact they arte a nuisance as they only steal from the US. Russia too hates the dirty hans. India has nothing to gain from an inferior excrement-born execrable monkeysfaced creed like the hans who only know to steal and who were swinging from trees when India was building cities and making great advances. As long as hans try to steal the resources of the Kashmiris and Balochs and ScS countries, occupy Tibet/Uyghuristan/Inner-Mongolia, and prevent India’s NSG entry and protect dirty paki terrorist-pigs in the UN (the UNSC seat was also got by the monkey-sh!t-licking hans/chinese dut to India’s stupidity which otherwise would have gone to India). AND Russia had ALREADY given permission to India to sell Brahmos to Vietnam LONG AGO in 2012.
Hey monkey-excrement-born han filth use your real name and id. INDIA WILL DO EVERYTHING NEEDED to keep herself AND Kashmir and Balochistan free of fecal matter (hans). ANd will also help flush clean countries like Tibet/Uyghuristan/Inner-Mongolia of fecal matter (hans again) in time to come. US-Russia relations will get better under Trump and while he will not be reelected a better atmosphere will exist between the two nations after his tenure. US is light-years ahead of inferior scum-sucking hans who have just stopped swining from trees and come out of the woods. They have NOTHING to fear of stinky han monkeys. In fact they arte a nuisance as they only steal from the US. Russia too hates the dirty hans. India has nothing to gain from an inferior excrement-born execrable monkeysfaced creed like the hans who only know to steal and who were swinging from trees when India was building cities and making great advances. As long as hans try to steal the resources of the Kashmiris and Balochs and ScS countries, occupy Tibet/Uyghuristan/Inner-Mongolia, and prevent India’s NSG entry and protect dirty paki terrorist-pigs in the UN (the UNSC seat was also got by the monkey-sh!t-licking hans/chinese dut to India’s stupidity which otherwise would have gone to India). AND Russia had ALREADY given permission to India to sell Brahmos to Vietnam LONG AGO in 2012.
What about China supplying Ballestic missiles, cruise missiles, nuclear weapons and arms to terrorist country Pakistan? All of China’s neighbors should have enough firepower to give a very bloody nose to aggressor…
Absolutely true
Srinivasa Nanduri : One of the reasons China is pressurising India to set aside border disputes and propping up Pakis. I think with 500 odd newest T-90MS going for the Cold Start augmentation, and S-400 SAM with other SHRSAMs it will be possible to decimate Paki defense to smitthers…
With PAKFA T-50, Rafale and Grippen-NG/F-16s, India is well on course to raise the bar for any country trying to challenge the IAF in Indian and littoral air space.
Falcon Dave you are correct on t90 ms and cold start. But the real game changer is barak 8 and s400. These are versatile Sams and can do a lot. Spyder sr Sam and s400 are one time limited orders though.
Remaining air defence will be augmented by astra vl sr Sam, akash 2, Barack 8, aad1, aad2 and pdv missiles.
India will get fgfa and may be some pak fas. Rafales will be ordered more and tejas mk2 will fill in low end fighter jet numbers. Gripen simply does not have chance. In immediate future there will be an add on 27 jet Rafael contract and agreement for may be license assembly of a few more rafales by reliance industries in india, but no gripen. Instead about 50+ su 30 mki of super 30 could be procured from Russia.
Russia and India relationships are 70 years old . Russia is a friend, an ally and not a business partner to India. India never had a border conflict with Russia similar to Russia and China.
Russia has learned who are true friends in times on trouble. India has switched sides to USA after USA sanctions were imposed on Russia. While India calls Brahmos its "China killer", Russia’s miscalculation has helped India reach a range further into Moscow. Realizing these faults, Russia will pursue Sarmat leaving Brahmos as second rate in the dust for India to celebrate.
India is building brahmos version 2 with russia, because china has broken peace in south asia by giving nuclear weapons to pakistan.