At the recent India-Russia summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030, which is “quite realistic” given current trade growth trends.

Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin said at a briefing that efforts will be made to provide more favorable conditions to boost India’s exports to Russia to close the existing trade gap between the two states. He agreed that India’s exports to Russia should rise; in 2023–2024, they were worth $4 billion, compared to $61 billion in estimated imports.

Notably, the official joint statement said: “Responding to India’s quest for self-sufficiency, the partnership is reorienting to joint research and development, a co-development and joint production of advanced defense technology and systems. The sides confirmed commitment to maintain the momentum of joint military cooperation activities and expand military delegation exchanges.”

The two sides agreed to support the joint production of other products and spare parts in India as part of the “Make in India” initiative to maintain weapons of Russian origin. They also concurred that manufacturing in India would be accomplished through technology transfer and the establishment of joint ventures to meet the needs of the Indian Armed Forces, with the option to export the finished goods to friendly third nations.

Additionally, Maxim Oreshkin, an aide to the Russian president, mentioned that the main focus of discussions between Putin and Modi was to enhance key areas of cooperation between the two countries until 2030, such as aircraft manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

This has led military experts to speculate that the revival of outdated defense projects might help India meet its ambitious 2030 trade target of $100 billion while increasing defense production.

Military analyst and a keen watcher of the Russian military, Indian Air Force Veteran Vijainder K. Thakur (Retd) says the “Revival of the in-limbo project to locally manufacture Ka-226T light helicopters in India is perhaps the lowest hanging fruit for increased cooperation in aircraft construction.”

Ka-226T’s Production in India

During Modi’s annual summit with Russia on December 24, 2015, India and Russia agreed to jointly build Kamov Ka-226T light-utility helicopters in India at the state manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

At the time, it was mutually decided Russia and India would work together to produce a minimum of 200 aircraft for the Indian Armed Forces. More helicopters could later be produced for export. The Indian Army and the IAF have a cumulative requirement of more than 400 light utility helicopters.

In 2015, the Indian Ministry of Defense envisaged that the order would be split into two parts: 200 procured from a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and an additional 200 supplied by HAL through indigenous development.

It was proposed that the Indo-Russian Helicopters, a joint venture (JV), would produce the Ka-226Ts locally in India. Under this arrangement, Russian Helicopters would own 42.5% of the venture, HAL would own 50.5%, and Rosoboronexport would own the remaining 7%.

However, the project has remained in limbo for almost a decade as the Russian Kamov manufacturer, and the Indian aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has not been able to iron out their differences over the transfer of technology, Indigenous content, and the project’s total cost.

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About 72% of the components in the helicopter were of Russian origin while the engines were French. However, Russia promised to indigenize 60% of the components made during the initial contract discussions. This did not appeal to India, which has been pushing for total indigenization under the present political dispensation.

India reportedly requested Russia to review the indigenization to higher levels in November 2019, and Moscow accepted the appeal. The CEO of Indo-Russian Helicopters Ltd., N M Srinath, told the media at DefExpo 2020 that about 70% of the 72% of Russian components in the helicopters produced in India would originate from Indian sources.

The program ran into uncertainty again in the 2022 review conducted by the Defence Procurement Board (DPB) which favored indigenously developed platforms over foreign procurement. The development of India’s own Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) was cited as the reason for the decision.

The Indian Air Force told the Parliament Committee on Defense that the force “presently has Chetak/Cheetah/Cheetal, Mi17/Mi-171V/Mi-17V-5, Mi-26, Mi-35, ALH, LCH, Chinook and Apache helicopters in its inventory. Of these, Chetak and Cheetah will be replaced by HAL-made LUH, and Mi-17 will be replaced by Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) developed by HAL or any other equivalent platform.”

Furthermore, the French government blocked the sale of engines for the Ka-226T chopper after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are other problems, too, including the fear of inviting the ire of the United States, which could become more evident with Washington’s disapproval of Modi’s recent visit to Russia.

Thakur argued that the prospect of reviving the Ka-226T production could be rewarding. He said that with the new VK-650V undergoing testing and certification, the Ka-226T would not need a French engine. Moreover, the two sides could plan to address indigenization that matched 70% of India’s LUH.

He emphasized that even though the project has been in limbo for a few years and India has been emphasizing the importance of having a helicopter fleet dominated by Indian manufacturers, the project has not been terminated and could be reconsidered.

“While being proud of the LUH, we need to keep in mind the fact that the aerospace and defense company will be hard-pressed to manufacture the LUH at a pace adequate to address the urgency to replace the aging fleet of light helicopters in the Indian Armed Force,” he noted.

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