A squeeze on Russian supply of military spares to India and western sanctions on Indian payments to Moscow highlight New Delhi’s vulnerability in depending on a single defence supplier.
Speaking at the BrahMos user meet in New Delhi last Wednesday, India’s top military officer, chief of defence staff Gen. Anil Chauhan, said that the Indo-Russian missile is truly a “brahmastra.” The Indian Air Force chief was equally effusive about the supersonic cruise missile, produced by a joint venture firm that is 49.5% Russian. “The combination of BrahMos on the Sukhoi Su-30 has really given us a tremendous capability that has enhanced our firepower. It has made the deterrence value of the IAF go up by leaps and bounds,” said air chief marshal V.R. Chaudhari. With 12 squadrons of Sukhoi …
Sushant Singh is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He has taught at Yale University (Fall 2019 and Fall 2021) and was deputy editor of The Indian Express. A winner of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2017 and 2018, he had earlier served in the Indian Army for two decades. He is also the author of Mission Overseas and co-author of Note by Note: The India Story.
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