India to buy 1,770 Russian tanks despite US warnings

The Indian Army will buy 1,770 modern tanks to replace the outdated T-72 tanks currently in service with the Indian armed forces, and the T-14 Armata super tank will be the important and top priority candidate for the new contract with a total value of up to 4.5 billion USD, Interfax news agency quoted The Diplomat as saying.

The source also revealed that Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat is on a working visit to Russia. The visit is seen as an effort to establish a bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries. And the issue of purchasing the Armata super tank is likely to be discussed during the talks.

It is noteworthy that the visit of the Indian military delegation led by Mr. Rawat coincides with the Russia-India Summit in Delhi on October 4-5. It is expected that defense contracts will be signed here with a total value of more than 10 billion USD.

In addition, the source also said that the decision to prioritize the equipment of modern tanks and armored vehicles for the Indian infantry forces has been approved, according to which the Indian army will own tanks similar to Russia's Armata, Ukraine's Oplot and South Korea's K-2 Black Panther. According to the plan of this force, the new tanks will be produced in India thanks to private companies cooperating with foreign manufacturers.

At the same time, this source also noted that equipment produced in Russia will be the basis for India to modernize its infantry forces.

Many experts believe that during this visit, Mr. Rawat may also discuss issues related to the technical maintenance and modernization of Russian military equipment currently in service with the Indian armed forces. It should be remembered that although India buys a lot of weapons and military equipment from the US and France, overall they still depend heavily on Russian weapons.

It is also possible that during this visit India will continue to raise the issue of purchasing the advanced S-400 air defense system from Russia. Negotiations between the two sides on the supply of this system have been going on for a long time but are currently at a standstill.

Earlier, India's announcement that it wanted to buy the S-400 had received a strong reaction from the US. The US even threatened that if India completed the purchase of this air defense system, the US could impose sanctions on India under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Therefore, if during this meeting, agreements on the purchase of tanks, armored vehicles and other military equipment between India and Russia are signed, it is likely that the US will impose sanctions on India like the US did with China recently.