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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian army chief set to head to Russia |
| 2006-08-20 |
| NEW DELHI - India’s army chief of staff heads Sunday to Russia to reaffirm India’s continuing long-term strategic partnership with its old ally despite fast expanding defence ties with the United States. General Joginder Jaswant Singh will hold talks with senior military officials, including the Chief of the General Staff of the Defence Ministry, and visit several military bases during his week-long visit, the Press Trust of India said Saturday. Officials say the trip is part of customary ”military-diplomatic” ties between the two nations which used to be on the same side of the fence during the Cold War, the agency said. Moscow remains India’s biggest arms supplier despite New Delhi’s rapidly warming relationship with Washington. But the visit has assumed added significance amid reports Russia is concerned that India is increasingly looking to other countries such as Israel, its second-largest arms supplier, the United States and France for defence goods. Singh will be pressing for strong guarantees from Russia on maintenance of delivery schedules of contracted weapon systems, uninterrupted supply of spares and product support, issues that have become sources of concern in recent years. The Indian Army still had over 80 per cent Soviet or Russian origin arms in its arsenal, the Press Trust of India said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 lotp. It is smart to have several suppliers. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-08-20 18:43 |
| #2 Singh needs to secure his expected materiel, including maintenance supplies for existing systems. The question in my mind is whether he also is among the Indian leaders who have dislike the US. John or anyone, can you shed light on that? |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-08-20 10:32 |
| #1 While Singh is in Russia the head of India's Air Force, Air Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi will embark Sunday on a 10 day defence cooperation tour of the United States. He will visit the Pentagon, Nellis Air Force Base - Nevada and the U. S. Air Force Space Command at Omaha where he will attend a briefing at the network - centric - warfare - grid. This is an area where India's armed forces have also begun work. For years Marshal Tyagi has spoken of his country's need to acheive "strategic reach" due to the increasing global commitments of India's economy. |
| Posted by: john 2006-08-20 10:01 |