Why India Suspended $520 Million Deal for 10 KA-31 AEW&C Helicopters from Russia

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has disrupted India's plans to procure KA-31 helicopters from Russia for its new indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

Despite discussions to purchase 10 KA-31 Airborne Early Warning helicopters, the proposed $520 million deal faces significant uncertainty.

Sources indicate that sanctions imposed on Russia have complicated payment, even as India and Russia explore ways to circumvent them. Furthermore, there are concerns about Russia's ability to deliver the helicopters given its military commitments in Ukraine.

India already possesses 14 KA-31 helicopters and intended to procure 10 more, but doubts have arisen about Russia's capability to fulfill this order. The Indian Navy sought these helicopters to enhance its warships' radar capabilities, providing early warning against surface and low-flying threats within a 200 km radius.

The Russia-Ukraine war has prompted the Indian Army and Navy to assess its impact on India's security and military hardware supply. India has a long-standing dependence on Russia for military equipment, with estimates suggesting a significant portion of its current arsenal originates from Russia.

Furthermore, concerns exist about Russia's ability to deliver the second unit of the S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems to India on time due to the ongoing conflict and sanctions. While some training equipment and simulators have arrived, the first of five S-400s was delivered in December 2021.

 

[Sandeep]

The government haven’t officially dropped the potential deal. Also there is no suitable alternative that India can buy or afford as the west either don’t have it or sell it. We need naval AWACS as they are critical to protect our ships and collect intelligence and surveillance of ships and potential threats before our navy meets them. India should quickly seal the deal now as India can’t develop an indigenous helicopter AWACS as we have no medium or heavy helicopter that we have developed or a rotating radar with a long detection range.

 

[Anant]

Agree👍. But we have some advantages also, like we can start the designing keeping emal in mind, DRDO is working on the development which will take time, but IACII is also long way.. IN should go for EMAL, finding way to absorb the cost escalation.

IAC-II is closer than it first seems. We should definitely go for EMALS on IAC-III, and the decade or so we have until she is approved will be enough to get a working EMALS as well as potentially integrate nuclear propulsion.

 

[Manoj Kumar]

Put everything in making engines first.Plan for 10yrs. Get all types of engine.
90KN, 110KN ,130KN for Airforce

1500HP for army tanks

 

[PARTHO CHAKRABARTI]

Hi,"INCREDIBLE INDIA",has always picked the wrong partners starting from "RUSSIA",who still are lagging in technology,the worst part even after so many setbacks we are still partnering with them when the world is the market,where we can pick & choose 😡😡😡

 

[Anant]

The government haven’t officially dropped the potential deal. Also there is no suitable alternative that India can buy or afford as the west either don’t have it or sell it. We need naval AWACS as they are critical to protect our ships and collect intelligence and surveillance of ships and potential threats before our navy meets them. India should quickly seal the deal now as India can’t develop an indigenous helicopter AWACS as we have no medium or heavy helicopter that we have developed or a rotating radar with a long detection range.

The navalised version of the AW101 has an AEW variant.

 

[PKPRS]

Ukraine war have impacted all over world for delay in defence mfg & its opportunity for Atmanirbhar

Remember, only suspended and nothing is cancelled, may pick up full speed after the War is done.

 

[PKPRS]

That may be the case, but the fact remains that the Ka-31 deal has been in limbo for a long time. With the war intensifying again, it is safe to assume the deal is dead.

only on coma, everything will arise shortly, nothing will be dead as some French pseudo’s wish, let them have wet dreams.

 

[Rajesh]

Can easily convert or make naval dhruv into merlin crowsnest type awacs. Such system if developed can be scaled up when naval imrh becomes a reality.

 

[Rajesh]

What alternate option do we have to replace Ka-31?

Merlin crowsnest. If we want we can use dhruv as a platform and use the sensors on it .dhruv being a bit smaller platform still can be used and if such system is developed we can scale them up when naval imrh becomes a reality.

 

[PKPRS]

What alternate option do we have to replace Ka-31?

literally nothing, only expensive options until we make a compact helicopter to carry a heavy payload like a folding radar.

 

[PKPRS]

Merlin crowsnest. If we want we can use dhruv as a platform and use the sensors on it .dhruv being a bit smaller platform still can be used and if such system is developed we can scale them up when naval imrh becomes a reality.

nothing can beat the diminutive size and payload carrying ability of KA-31 or KA-226t, they both are wonders.

 

[Rajesh]

We should have gone in for multi year contracts for the MH-60R's (locking in the base price), long back. That's the only viable option today for the Ka-31's today.

To the max we can use the mh-60 platform in place for merlin helicopter and use the radar and sensors along with equipment for an awacs but romeos can't supplement ka-31 to its potential. every body forgets the crowsnest system used on merlin helicopter on british carriers as their awacs.

 

[Anant]

only on coma, everything will arise shortly, nothing will be dead as some French pseudo’s wish, let them have wet dreams.

Sir, while I am all in favour of getting a good solution fast, I am highly skeptical this kind of deal will go through for as long as the war is on. And the war doesn't show any signs of coming to an end in the foreseeable future, short of either the West stopping support for Ukraine or Putin and a bunch of his peers being out of power. Neither of those is likely.

Regardless, I'll continue to remain optimistic that something will happen, though the realist in me feels this deal is not going to go through.

 

[PKPRS]

Agree👍. But we have some advantages also, like we can start the designing keeping emal in mind, DRDO is working on the development which will take time, but IACII is also long way.. IN should go for EMAL, finding way to absorb the cost escalation.

we need to build helicopter in the size of LUH fitted with coaxial rotor deleting the tail rotor and fit two engines to make it even compact for smaller ships and at the same time carry high payload, we missed great opportunities to make helicopters like KA-31 and VTOL jets like YAK-141 during good old day, now it is too late to regret.

 

[Ravindra Kapoor]

HAL.....It may take upto a Decade to develop a Helicopter with similar role and capability...... Atmanirbhar definitely a must......as an interim measure.... till such time Indigenous equivalent is available.... issue definitely needs a RELOOK in wake of Operational capability.......

 

[PKPRS]

Sir, while I am all in favour of getting a good solution fast, I am highly skeptical this kind of deal will go through for as long as the war is on. And the war doesn't show any signs of coming to an end in the foreseeable future, short of either the West stopping support for Ukraine or Putin and a bunch of his peers being out of power. Neither of those is likely.

Regardless, I'll continue to remain optimistic that something will happen, though the realist in me feels this deal is not going to go through.

I don’t feel it’s realistically even possible if I think pragmatically knowing the history.

 

[Anant]

I don’t feel it’s realistically even possible if I think pragmatically knowing the history.

Fair enough, Sir. Let's agree to disagree and see where this goes moving forward.

 

[desigandu]

None. You'd have to build one. The only substitute-ish are land-based AWACS aircraft, but they have their operational limitations.

US has drones used as awacs like global hawk i believe but their are power limitations…we should get some and also fly them from our carriers - yes there is a carrier version too, but unsure if we can get them off from our ski-jumps…

 

[desigandu]

Might not be practical, Sir. IAC-II, as of now, is planned to be a modified Vikrant. If you want to put in an EMALS that can launch AWACS, there are a number of challenges:

1. The entire design of the ship would have to be changed. Elevators may have to be moved, and a lot of internal rearrangement would be needed.

2. We don't have a working EMALS set that is large enough as of yet. That is still several years away. Moreover, purchasing an EMALS set from the US is considered to be too expensive given the late-2010s offer of EMALS + AAG for over a billion USD.

3. We don't have a fixed wing AWACS either. To do so, we'd have to buy a few E-2s from the Americans.

4. The limited size of our carriers also means AWACS such as the E-2 may not be feasible. We'd need significantly larger hangars, larger elevators, and more deck space for such aircraft, which may not be practical here.

These ideas must be used only for our 65000 ton twin carriers which will hopefully have EMALS Catobar…can we see these getting operationalized by 2040? i really hope…

 

[desigandu]

Sir, while I am all in favour of getting a good solution fast, I am highly skeptical this kind of deal will go through for as long as the war is on. And the war doesn't show any signs of coming to an end in the foreseeable future, short of either the West stopping support for Ukraine or Putin and a bunch of his peers being out of power. Neither of those is likely.

Regardless, I'll continue to remain optimistic that something will happen, though the realist in me feels this deal is not going to go through.

Look, the war is a creation of the west due to its eastward expansion, even though Putin pulled the trigger…But in this great game Russia is weaker, NATO stronger, West has diversified its energy supplies and the cost of inflation and say $500B of direct aid/cost is chump change for the west which has a GDP north of $50T…hard facts - no matter which side you are on…Putin and Russia are the losers big time whichever way you see it…. I think Putin overestimated his capability and did not realise the response from the west…