Army set to receive Igla-S air defence systems partly assembled in India

The Army is all set to begin receiving another set of Russian Igla-S very short range air defence systems (VSHORAD) by the end of May or early next month.

The Army is all set to begin receiving another set of Russian Igla-S very short range air defence systems (VSHORAD) by the end of May or early next month, filling a critical void in the its air defence requirements which has been repeatedly delayed. In another development, multiple sources confirmed that the payments issue between India and Russia that has held up critical payments for defence deals as well as payments has been resolved.

The Igla-S systems were contracted last year under the fourth tranche of Emergency Procurements (EP) and are being assembled by Adani Defence Systems And Technologies Limited (ADSTL) in India under technology transfer from Rosoboronexport, multiple official sources confirmed.

The Army is also set to receive the first of two Israeli Hermes-900 Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) assembled by ADSTL in Hyderabad next month.

Last year the Army contracted 48 Igla-S launchers, 100 missiles, 48 night sights, and one missile testing station under a ₹260 crore contract and deliveries are set to begin by end of May 2024, an official source said. The order was placed to ADSTL, officials stated.

The missile will be imported and some parts like sights, launcher, and battery will be assembled/manufactured here by Adani defence, another source in the know said.

As reported earlier, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s ouster from ten international payment system, payments for major deals, especially defence, have been held up delaying important deals including the S-400 air defence systems. Efforts to pursue payments in national currencies through Rupee-Ruble trade have not eased the situation. However, that has now been resolved by the use of national currencies and widening Russian utilisation of Indian Rupees that have accumulated, two official sources independently confirmed.

As reported by The Hindu earlier, under EP-4, between September 2022 to September 2023, the Army concluded over 70 schemes worth nearly ₹11,000 crore. Similarly, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has concluded 64 contracts under EP-4 worth around ₹8,137 crore.