India faces difficulties in maintaining 60 percent of its Russian-made arms

The Indian Navy came across difficulties in transporting the Sindhuratna submarine from Russia. The Indian submarine underwent repairs in Severodvinsk. A source of The Times of India claims that there were difficulties with the maintenance of other Russian equipment too.

India faced problems against the backdrop of Western sanctions when exporting its submarine from Russia. India had sent the submarine for repairs to a shipyard in Severodvinsk, The Times of India wrote with reference to transportation tenders and reports from its own sources, RBC reports.

It goes about the diesel-electric Sindhuratna submarine. According to Indian classification, the sub belongs to the Sindhughosh class. These are Project 877 Halibut submarines intended for export to India. The submarines were built in the USSR and Russia from the early 1980s until 2000. The construction of the Sindhuratna was started in 1986 at Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). The sub was launched in 1988 and handed over to the Indian Navy the same year. In the period from 2001 to 2003, the submarine was modernised at Russian Zvyozdochka Shipyard. In February 2014, after she was handed over to the Indian Navy, a major fire sparked on board the sub that killed two submariners.

The $700-million contract for repairs and modernisation of Sindhughosh-class submarines in Russia was signed in 2018. In Russia, the Sindhuratna underwent modernisation, during which she was equipped with an export version of the Russian Kalibr missiles. After the repairs, her service life will last another ten years.

The Indian Navy planned to transport the submarine from Severodvinsk to Mumbai directly with the help of a carrier ship. However, as The Times of India notes, against the backdrop of sanctions imposed against Russia, the Indian military changed the terms of the tender for transportation. They now plan to export the sub from the Norwegian port of Tromsø, but not from Russia's Severodvinsk.

The Indian Armed Forces come across other problems because of the sanctions imposed against Russia. About 60 percent of all military equipment that India has in service is either Soviet or Russian made equipment. The sanctions made it difficult to pay for maintenance of this equipment. Its modernisation has become difficult as well.

In April 2022, it was said that India postponed the plan to purchase 48 Mi-17V5 military transport helicopters from Russia. The contract for their purchase was signed in 2011. Indian media sources claimed that the decision was not related to the Russian military operation in Ukraine and was made long before it started.