re: Russia may supply MI-35 to Pakistan
From the times article something i would like to point out.
India has been upset with Russia's propensity to not stick to delivery schedules, jack up costs mid-way through execution of contracts, create hurdles in transfer of technology and be unreliable about spares.
The long-delayed delivery of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) as well as the huge jump in its refit cost to $2.33 billion is just one of the examples. But Russia will remain India's major military supplier for the foreseeable future.
India closely watching Russian move to sell attack helicopters to Pakistan - The Times of India
This is no surprise except for indians still stuck in the cold war.
Once Russia cuts out oil and gas, the Ukraine defence machinery will collapse.
Yes many Indians stuck in the thinking of the cold-war era , calling Russia brother while they are calculating
the inflated prices to re-quote to India at the next project-progress meeting, as LF Sir has pointed out !
Also as Ray Sir has informed and if i might expand on his point:-
the cold war in fact hasn't really ended, the cold-war mentality has to be replaced, but that war has mutated into a slightly warmer "cold-war " - i.e. the edges of it have become warmer and fuzzy ... and so alignments are witnessing cross-border infringements and a kind of war -barter along the edges:-
Folks point that Ukraine has moves westward, Romania is now part of NATO and do the cold war has ended - i say no , these are border re-alignments . After WW2 the Soviet Union took on new territory, satellites and really it bit off more than it could chew and some 40 year after that , the system had to face that truth - that it had taken on too much - and so spat those extras out - but the basic opposition of Russia to the west - apparently it still remains -
the cold war hasn't ended - it has only put on summer clothes and as such looks a bit more friendly and approachable:
- wait till the winter comes !
Resulting in events like Pakistan making some breakthroughs in closing deals across the previous boundary lines
Further, deduced from Ray's point - India needs to view defence in greater panorama - nowadays it is
panoramic defence with every citizen being an important part of the sum total. Today's defence and warfare is as much economic as it is technological and no longer the "warrior-race" or warrior mentality which our northwestern friends across the border seem to brag about and learned four lessons in defeat . Panoramic defence where the pen is mightier than the sword - where
one Indian student seriously pursuing tehnology R&D is more valuable than packland's imaginary war heroes Sultan Tipu and others.put together..... ( Let's give those students a better research grant ! and reform that DRDO into ISRO )
But they are learning and technology, even totally acquired technology with no knowledge of how it works - just
the ability to push the right buttons - can have devastating effect
and so India has no choice but to be a part of the race of ever having to make improvements
in the area of defence systems - but we do have the manpower and educational institutions . We now look
to see how the new goi will combine these to initiate projects and ideas to take India off foreign dependence
gradually to produce its own defence systems and have better bargaining power with situations like
the Admiral Gorshkov carrier affair..