Good to see Moscow wake up after the international tender issued by India.
Indo-Russia JV to service Talwar frigatesThe title is misleading, the JV should cover more than the Talwar class.
However, this is a JV that has yet to come into existence. The model of the JV is exactly what the International tender wanted a
company responding to the tenderQuote:
The IAF has also clarified that the bidders need to have the support of the Ilyushin Design Bureau which is the Russian OEM in this case.
Now only if another "JV" can satisfy the IAF and IA requirements (see below).
Next, it is really sad that the OEMs could not perform their job. There is no need for a JV to exist if the OEMs had done their jobs!!!!!!
Next, this JV is between multiple Russian OEMs and what seems to be an private Indian company (true???). And that this Indian company will hire ex-IN people to support the IN!!!! Nice that they are hiring, but, that is just another person in the middle. IN should have support facilities and people and really no need for this "Krasny Marine Services Pvt Ltd as the sole Indian partner". I view this as an increase in costs of support.
Next, "Krasny Marine Services Pvt Ltd as the sole Indian partner" will be the face that the IN sees and deals with. What if it folds, which it can. It is a for profit outfit and needs to make money to be in service. Hopefully it is financially solvent enough to outlast the Talwars.
Next, the talk of signing the deal when the Navy chief visits Russia needs to be viewed in the right light - this JV has nothing to do with the IN and the Naval Chief's visit to Russia. It is a JV between 8 Russian OEMs and an Indian Pvt company.
Lastly, this does NOT resolve the issues that the
IAF has (for which the IAF issued an international tender):
Quote:
The stop-and-start supply of spares, the irregular maintenance and unreasonable price hikes have been a stumbling block for India. Besides the current Ilyushin aircraft maintenance issue, the IAF has been looking for countries other than Russia for special tools and spares and global tenders have been floated for parts and tools related to MiG fighters, AN-32 transport aircraft, Mi-17 helicopters and OSA-AK surface-to-air missile systems.
(The old MiG-29 related problems seemed to have been solved - as stated in some other posts, but these are new problems.)
Then:
Quote:
Even the Indian Army sidelined Russia recently by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) for the acquisition of active protection and counter-measure systems for its T-90S main-battle tanks (MBT) bought from Russia.
Not to talk of my fav: barrels for the T-90!!!!
I think this JV is a joke.
added l8r:
Krasny Marine Services Pvt Ltd is an ex-IN daggha!!!!! Perfect front. I suspect this is the only way that India and Russia could agree to cost escalations.