New Delhi:
Any decision that India takes on which of the two fighter jets between the American F-35 and the Sukhoi Su-57 it would go with is a decision for India alone and no one else including Russia has any say in it, according to Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov.
He made the comments at the NDTV Defence Summit in a session titled ‘The Next Chapter of India-Russia Defence Ties’.
“The US is welcome to promote its product. It’s a good aircraft, no doubt about that. But way too expensive. If India goes for that, well, that would be India’s sovereign decision. But we are offering a much better deal. Next year we are going to see hopefully many firsts at the Bengaluru air show,” Alipov said.
The Russian envoy’s comments also come amid the arrival of six US F-35 Lightning II fighter jets and more than 200 American personnel in India for their first-ever participation in Exercise Tarang Shakti.
Several media reports in the last two years have indicated India would not likely buy the F-35.
The Russian ambassador pointed out that “trust and respect are the very qualities that characterise our (India-Russia) relationship.”
“You don’t do business with untrustworthy partners. And it has been, as minister Jaishankar once pointed out, remarkably consistent. Since the times of the Soviet Union, since India’s independence – next year we’re going to celebrate 80 years of our diplomatic relations,” he said, referring to India’s massive defence purchases over the last several decades including iconic legacy hardware like the MiG-21 and the MiG-29.
“Throughout all these decades, we have been friends who have been reliable partners to each other – not only Russia to India, but both ways. We have never conditioned our relations on any immediate global disposition, so we have never regarded our relationship as a zero-sum game. I think this consistency, the assistance and help to each other throughout the years, has made a very solid foundation for our relations to go further with wide perspectives,” Alipov said.
He alluded to the Americans as those who will not stand the rise of India over China or become like China.
“I think this year at the Raisina Dialogue, one of the top US officials revealed and spoke publicly that the US will never allow India to become the next China as a competitor. It was like a Freudian slip. So as India becomes stronger and stronger, and eventually a superpower – which is inevitable – the US would be doing everything possible to contain India. And so, we regard this measure, the Graham Act, as such,” the Russian envoy said.
While India operates many Russian military hardware, it has also bought several American weapon platforms in recent times including transport aircraft and attack helicopters. India’s close working relationship in defence with Russia is proven the strongest by none other than the joint programme that developed the BrahMos cruise missile.
The Su-57 stealth fighter jet is designed to carry out a wide range of combat missions including engagement of air, ground and maritime targets. It is capable of operating round the clock, in adverse weather and under electronic warfare conditions while its low observability is intended to reduce vulnerability to modern air defence systems.
