More than Friends

AVM Manmohan Bahadur (retd)

In international diplomacy, friendships between nations have been christened in many forms. The relationship between the UK and the US is called a ‘Special Relationship’ while that between China and Pakistan as one ‘higher than the mountains and deeper than the oceans.’ The Indo-Russian friendship goes much beyond such labels and stands out as an enduring partnership. Nowhere is this more visible than in the defence sector where Russia, erstwhile USSR, is the largest supplier of arms to India.

While the pre-Independence era was one of the Great Game being played out by the Russians on one side and the British colonialists on the other, the modern day engagement traces its origins to the pre-1962 war period, where the Soviet Union was accused of hedging its support to India and siding with China so as to get its backing in its anti-US contest. However, after the end of the Cuban missile crisis, the support tilted decisively towards India with the offer of the MiG-21 fighter, after which there has been no looking back.

The relationship has not been a barter arrangement where India got technology and other expertise in lieu of bananas and Bata shoes, a statement that was often made in the Seventies and Eighties; however, what it did convey was the essence of a one-sided relationship that existed then, that changed very little in the Nineties but is turning the corner in this century. Historically, the strategic environment affecting Indo-Russian relations can be divided into two major time blocks; first between 1950 and 1990 and the second between 1990 and 2010. Subsequently, the equation has undergone a change and would be analysed in this article, restricted only to air power issues.


In 1955, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the Soviet Union and met President Khrushchev who had said, “Shout across the Himalayas if you ever need us”. This visit was followed by visits of Presidents Khrushchev and Bulganin, which laid the foundations of military cooperation. This was also the time when Sino-Soviet military understanding was going through a rough patch. The end of the decade i.e., 1959-60 saw steps being taken for the induction of Mi-4 helicopters, which started arriving in 1962. It may come as a surprise to many that some of these Mi-4s were armed for use against infiltrators in the 1965 conflict with Pakistan, as the Indian official history of that war chronicles.

The beginning of the decade of the Sixties saw the delineation of the sources of arms supplies between India and Pakistan. While Pakistan signed a contract with the US for the F-104 in 1962, the Soviets offered India the MiG-21. This deal moved on fast track and on 3 March 1963, the first Squadron was inducted. Modifications and upgrades of this aircraft were also provided on fast track and by 1964 an upgraded radar was available on the MiG-21. The Su 7 came next and was to be the mainstay of the ground attack capability of the IAF in the 1971 war.

The geo-political map of the sub-continent was to change in December 1971 due to events that happened in erstwhile East Pakistan in March that year — showing insightful foresight India signed the Indo-Soviet Treaty on 9 August 1971. The treaty served India well and showed the maturity of its political leadership. Was a price paid for that? Well, a discussion on this would be outside the scope of this piece, but suffice to say that at various points in its life,