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| INS Vikramaditya |
Vivek Raghuvanshi
GOA, India — Ukraine has launched an aggressive effort to manage multiple overloaded armaments and weaponry that New Delhi acquired during the Soviet era and which have become a liability for the Indian defense forces.
Armed with the salutations of a government-level delegation (to negate the strains in the relationship between the two countries since Ukraine sold T-80 U tanks to Pakistan in the early 1990s) and with over a dozen defense companies showcasing new programs at Defexpo, Ukraine is attempting to embrace India and break the Russian monopoly on the Soviet-era platforms.
Perto Fedoruk, chief adviser to Ukraine’s largest defense industry consortium, Ukroboronprom, said: “We are here now [in] India for the long term to manage Soviet-era headaches, which India cannot manage alone.”
“For nearly a decade Russia has forcefully blocked our entry," Fedoruk said. "We have offered multiple solutions to give new life to Soviet-era weaponry [with Indian defense forces], as we are the original equipment manufacturer.”
According to a Ukrainian diplomat, “India cannot resolve the headaches of overloaded Soviet-era platforms without Ukraine."
Read the full story at DefenseNews