Author: Brother Mao This article is reproduced under the authorization of Brother Mao’s Vision (ID: maogeshijue) on the official account.
On May 25, 2023, the highly anticipated Malacca International Defense Exhibition officially opened.
This is another international defense feast after last year’s Zhuhai Air Show and this year’s Abu Dhabi International Maritime Defense Show.
Because it was not convenient to hold such a large-scale exhibition in the past two years, everyone was suffocated. Therefore, since the beginning of this air show, it can be said that there has been a bustling market and a busy schedule.
Among them, the largest lineup is the Indian delegation.
There are a total of 100 people, including representatives of the land, sea, and air forces, as well as aviation and maritime enterprises. Obviously, India is going to have to pay for it again.
You know, in the arms trade industry, India’s reputation is quite impressive.
However, this kind of fame is not glamorous for India, as all countries know that India is a major enemy of weapons besides fame.
But India is at least one of the top five in the world economy, how did it get into the position of being a big enemy?
This starts with India’s “glorious history”.
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It should be noted that after the end of the Cold War, India almost inherited all the British army forces in India and was also a dominant force in South Asia, with almost no opponents.
Therefore, India did not pay much attention to the development of armaments. In addition, during the Cold War, India wandered between the two camps, and could not get enough Military aid. It did not think much about arms purchase.
But after the end of the Cold War, inspired by the beautiful dream of becoming a world military power, India began to purchase weapons on a large scale and quickly established itself in the international arms market.
I started running towards the wrong name and created many strange memories that made me sad to see and shed tears upon hearing.
Firstly, buy an aircraft carrier for 1 yuan.
The story of buying an aircraft carrier for 1 yuan has a background, which is that India once cut Russian leeks.
We all know that during the Soviet era, India, although under the banner of non alliance, had been flirting with the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union not only provided a large amount of arms aid to India, but also provided a large amount of industrial transfer to India, such as the maintenance plant, fertilizer plant, steel plant, etc. of MiG-21. During the peak period, the Soviet Union’s aid projects and loans accounted for 17% of India’s industrial output value!
This batch of industrial aid is worth 10 billion rubles and is paid for by successive loans from the Soviet Union to India.
But before India could repay all this money, the Soviet Union disintegrated!
India is very happy, there are no creditors left, so naturally there is no need to pay back!
But it’s not that simple. Russia and most of the Soviet republics argued for two years and ultimately formed a final debt treatment plan called the Zero Point Agreement in 1993.
According to the agreement, all Soviet debts will be borne by Russia, and other countries will no longer bear Soviet debts;
But at the same time, the Soviet Union’s debt spread throughout the world also belonged to Russia, including its debt to India.
Of course, India does not want to repay the money, but Russia says it cannot and must. The two sides have been arguing until 1994, and India has ushered in an excellent opportunity.
In 1992, Russia began to engage in shock therapy, liberalizing 90% of the price of consumer goods and 80% of the price of Means of production.
At the beginning, the effect was good, but it didn’t take long for the Economy of Russia to plummet and the ruble depreciated wildly.
In 1991, one dollar was worth 0.9 rubles. By November 25, 1994, the ruble had depreciated to 3235 rubles per dollar.
That is to say, Russian millionaires actually have only $300 in wealth.
Look at India, heaven helps me too!
If the foreign debt of 10 billion rubles were converted at a price of 3000:1, it would only be over 3 million US dollars!
So India began to buy rubles in the international market on a large scale, and then used them to repay debts to Russia, paying off the money immediately.
Indians feel like they have taken a big advantage, but to their surprise, the relationship between the two countries is not a one shot deal.
Are you afraid that Russia will come back after you pit Russia?
Don’t worry, Russia’s retaliation is imminent.
A few years later, India’s first aircraft carrier, the Vikram, which was over 50 years old, couldn’t hold on and had to retire.
This creates a huge power vacuum for India’s navy, and there is an urgent need to purchase new aircraft carriers.
But India itself does not have the ability to build aircraft carriers, what about the international market?
At that time, there were only three countries with the ability to build aircraft carriers (the United States, Britain, Russia, and France).
At that time, the United States was imposing sanctions on India for its atomic bomb program and would not sell it to India. The British aircraft carriers themselves were not sufficient, and France’s own Charles de Gaulle aircraft carriers could not be secured. Therefore, Russia was the only choice.
Of course, Russia cannot build it itself, but repairing old Soviet era aircraft carriers is still no problem.
Coincidentally, at that time, Russia happened to have a 40000 ton USS Gorshkov aircraft carrier worrying about what to do.
The USS Gorshkov was a Soviet Kiev class aircraft carrier, not strictly speaking an aircraft carrier, but a carrier cruiser.
The aircraft carrier Kiev in Tianjin Park of China is a Sister ship, which mainly carries VTOL aircraft and has no takeoff deck.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Gorshkov was assigned to Russia, but during a voyage in 1994, the boiler of the Gorshkov exploded, killing 28 sailors.
After calculation, it takes 3 billion rubles (new rubles) to repair, but at that time Russia was at its poorest, how could there be money to repair it?
So the Gorshkov had been berthed at the shipyard in North Murmansk, in shock.
The Indians were very excited. If no other country can provide an aircraft carrier, they should buy this aircraft carrier to refit it and add a Flight deck.
So in 1998, India sent a delegation to Russia to negotiate the purchase of an aircraft carrier.
At that time, Russia saw that there was a way to heaven, you didn’t go, there was no door to hell, you broke in!
I am worried that the revenge of devaluing rubles and repaying foreign debts cannot be avenged. I didn’t expect you to bring it to your doorstep!
So, at the ceremony to welcome the Indian delegation, Russia gave Indians enough face and organized a special Fleet review. Various ships went out in full force, including the awe inspiring Gorshkov.
But what Indians never expected was that the Gorshkov was being towed forward by a tugboat with underwater steel cables
Now you know why we arranged so many ships?
Just to block the tugboat
After successfully lifting India’s appetite, Russia offered $1.
Before Indians could be happy, Russia proposed that the aircraft carrier could not be used directly now, and that Flight deck and necessary maintenance should be added, totaling 947 million dollars.
To be honest, this price is not expensive, but the Indian who is addicted to taking advantage of it suggests a maximum of 500 million US dollars!
But Russia did not agree to this offer, and negotiations between the two sides were deadlocked.
In 2000, Putin visited India and with a stroke of his pen, for the sake of friendship between Russia and India, the aircraft carrier was delivered free of charge, with repairs costing only 500 million yuan.
But the condition is that India will pay another 900 million to bundle the MiG 29K Carrier-based aircraft!
India was overjoyed and the package of projects was the most reassuring, so it quickly signed a contract with Russia.
But India has forgotten a truth: what is free is the most expensive.
After signing the contract and paying the money, India happily began waiting for the aircraft carrier.
But waiting and waiting, the aircraft carrier didn’t move, so they went to Russia and saw that the carrier hadn’t moved yet!
Angry India questioned Russia, but Russia spoke up and gave a bunch of reasons:
Firstly, although the aircraft carrier is not expensive, retrofitting does require money! But I don’t have any money now.
Secondly, I also want to start the transformation as soon as possible, but I’m sorry, the construction plant of this ship is in Ukraine, and my current Sevmash has no relevant equipment, so it can’t be built.
Thirdly, because the ship was built in Ukraine, the North Machinery Manufacturing Bureau of Russia lacks relevant drawings. When the original quotation was made, the amount of renovation work was unexpectedly large, and you only paid for the cost of cleaning the aircraft carrier and external renovation.
India bombed, I don’t want that ship anymore, pay back!
Russia says it’s sorry, the money has already been spent. Is it free to dismantle the anti ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles on the deck?
Is it free to add a hangar and dismantle the adjacent cabin?
Is it free to install Arresting gear?
The most crucial thing is that the original boiler has already been scrapped, and I have bought you a new boiler from Ukraine. Don’t you want any money?
Anyway, there’s no way to get a refund.
The Indians are in a dilemma, give up, the $1 billion advance payment is gone, don’t give up, this aircraft carrier looks like a bottomless pit
In the end, India gritted its teeth and paid over $400 million, hoping to get Russia to start work quickly.
However, Indians are still too naive. How can Russia avenge its debt when it sees that India’s bamboo poles are so easy to crack down on?
So, this aircraft carrier became a complete nightmare for India, and as soon as Russia called, India trembled:
Forget the cable shortage, add the money!
The design plan needs to be changed, extra money!
The Arresting gear is not strong enough and needs to be re developed. Add money!
The Indians are angry, you are too much!
We will resolutely refuse and demand that the contract be fulfilled.
Russia is very calm. Oh, the more I look at this ship, the more I like it. It happens that my Kuznetsov aircraft carrier is old, why don’t I stay and use it myself.
Isn’t India equivalent to spending billions of dollars building an aircraft carrier for Russia?
With so much money thrown into it, it’s not that bad.
In this way, India is like a victim in the Romance scam. It always wants to cash out and leave, but the time for cash out is not coming.
As a result, by the time the ship was delivered in 2008, India’s aircraft carrier had not yet seen a shadow
In order to appease the Indians, Russia sent a delegation to visit India and brought a gift – an oil painting of the USS Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
In ancient times, there were painting cakes to satisfy hunger, but now there are painting boats to satisfy hunger!
At this point, India is actually numb. Forget it, tired, destroy it
In this way, with all the extra money, the aircraft carrier was finally built in 2012, after India had paid a total of 2.9 billion US dollars!
But when the Indians excitedly brought it for sea trials, with a loud bang, the boilers exploded. After inspection, 7 out of 8 boilers were damaged
What’s going on?
When Russia was retrofitting, they couldn’t find the original power system and had to import a diesel engine from Ukraine to replace the original heavy oil engine, replacing the original Soviet insulation asbestos tiles with insulation bricks.
But Russia quickly discovered that when the boiler is running at full speed, the heat generated by the diesel engine is much higher than that of the heavy oil engine, and if it exceeds a certain value, it will explode.
So during the sea trials, Russia has been operating at 50% power.
Who would have thought that Indians would go home and ride fast cars, only to explode as expected.
In response, Russia said that the quality of insulation bricks produced in China was too poor to support the operation of high-strength boilers before they exploded.
The position of the boiler is relatively lower, and if you want to repair it, you need to cut the deck. However, India does not have this strength and can only travel thousands of miles back to Russia for repair.
In this way, Russia earned another maintenance fee with tears in its eyes.
Fortunately, Russia has a good conscience this time, and the maintenance cost is as much as possible. There has been no temporary increase in money.
The aircraft carrier was finally repaired in November 2013.
In this way, India spent over 3 billion US dollars, delayed for a full five years, and finally obtained this aircraft carrier.
After experiencing this experience of being slaughtered, do you think India will learn from it?
No, no, no, that would not be India. Soon the second Romance scam came.
Secondly, buy an airplane for 240 million yuan.
When China’s J-20 was born, India was under great pressure. Why?
Because this is the first domestically produced stealth aircraft in Asia, and stealth aircraft have a generation difference compared to non stealth aircraft, and once attacked, India will have no fighting power.
So India also wants its own stealth machine.
After looking around, it seemed that only Russia was working on its own T50 project (now known as the Su 57), so India said, ‘Can you let me join? I’ll pay.’.
Russia is worried about not having so much money for research and development, and readily agreed. Indians refer to this project as the FGFA plan.
Can’t Indians see that Russia is using Indian funds for research and development?
Of course, it can be seen, but India still believes that if we participate in research and development, we may be able to learn the research and development technology of the fifth generation machine!
But the problem is that Indians quickly discovered that Russia is hiding really deep.
The Indian people who participated in the research and development were only assigned to the development of some subsystems and had no understanding of the entire aircraft development!
I spent a lot of money and didn’t learn any skills!
This time, the Indian people became smarter and knew that it would be a bottomless pit again, so they decisively withdrew from research and development.
But by this time, India had already spent $1.2 billion.
How can we solve the problem with the plane after exiting the FGFA program?
Pakistan is already equipped with F16 and Owl Dragon, while India’s main forces, Su 30 and Phantom 2000, have already been well understood by Pakistan (China has Su 30, Pakistan also has Phantom 3).
We must develop a new plane!
At this moment, the French came to my house. How is the gust at my house?
Except for not being invisible, all other performance is very good, can be called the fourth and a half generation!
After evaluation and flight test, India thinks that the Dassault Rafale is good. The key is that the Indian pilots who flew the French Phantom now have no pressure to fly the Rafale.
So we started negotiating the price with the French, who said 90 million euros without bargaining.
Indians find it a bit expensive, but the French offer India an undeniable condition:
There are 18 in stock and 108 left, which are taught by France and assembled and produced by Hindustan Airlines!
Buy an airplane and get the technology free? Is there such a good thing?
Indians are very happy and fully in line with Modi’s shouted “Made in India” goal.
However, after investigating Hindustan Airlines, India found that Hindustan Airlines did not have the ability to produce gusts at all.
If we have to manufacture, we must purchase a large amount of equipment from France, and when converted, the cost per aircraft will soar to 2.7 times that of French production!
So India abandoned its plan to produce its own aircraft and cut the entire contract from 126 to 36.
At this moment, the French stopped working.
We all know that aircraft, which cannot be produced in large quantities, must be allocated to research and development costs and equipment costs for each aircraft.
With a certain initial investment, the more production, the lower the unit price of the aircraft.
But now that Indians have cut down 90 planes at once, it’s natural that they won’t be able to make a deal at 90 million euros and must increase the price!
Indians don’t do it either. You promised 90 million euros back then, how did you change your mind now?
So the two sides argued for a whole eight years, and in 2015, the marathon procurement was finally over.
The total contract price is 7.8 billion euros, and a total of 36 Dassault Rafale are purchased.
In this calculation, the price of each gust is as high as 216 million euros! Approximately $240 million per aircraft!
This is far from the grand plan!
You know, even the fifth generation F35 is only $120 million per aircraft!
The money for this fourth and a half generation fighter jet is enough to buy two fifth generation fighter jets!
India has been slaughtered, and there is no way. Who wants India to be unable to produce on its own?
It’s not over yet. Wait and wait for another five years. Indians finally welcomed the first five Dassault Rafale fighters.
But soon someone discovered that there were large areas of paint peeling off on the top and bottom of the vertical tail of these gusty planes!
Upon closer observation, it was found that the contour lights and some sensors under the root of the main wing were not installed!
Obviously, these Dassault Rafale are reduced, and it cannot be ruled out that they are second-hand aircraft of the French Air Force.
Daring Indian spent 7.8 billion euros to buy a pile of low-end second-hand goods?
Thirdly, buy an early warning machine at three times the price.
Netizens of a certain age should have heard of the Falcon warning aircraft incident in the 1990s.
At that time, the Chinese Air Force urgently needed early warning aircraft to compensate for the blind spot of domestic ground radar, but due to limited technology at that time, they could only choose to import.
At that time, China selected Israel’s modified Falcon warning aircraft on the Russian Il-76 platform, but due to the United States’ obstruction at that time, Israel tore up the contract and also paid breach of contract damages to China.
China can only rely on its own efforts to overcome its painful experiences.
A few years later, he launched his own air police 2000 early warning aircraft, which looks exactly like the Falcon early warning aircraft. Is that annoying?
Of course, this matter is not over yet. At that time, there were four aircraft under the contract between China and Israel. Except for one aircraft that had already been delivered to China (which later dismantled the radar and flew back to Russia), the remaining three aircraft had already started modification.
If no one wants it, Israel will smash it.
At this point, India came to take over and spent $1.1 billion to buy the remaining three warning planes.
Indians are very happy, but to their surprise, the contract signed by China at that time was 250 million US dollars per aircraft. Now India is buying three aircraft for 1.1 billion US dollars, which is already more than 50% more expensive!
Through this contract, Israel not only did not lose money, but also earned out all the liquidated damages paid to China.
After several years of use, India is still satisfied with the performance of Falcon.
But three are too few to be able to rotate 24 hours on air duty, so I want to purchase two more early warning aircraft of the same model.
At this point, Russia has become a demon again.
Unlike the previous purchase, last time Israel bought the Il 76 from Russia, installed radar, and sold it to India. However, this time India needs to sign separate contracts with Israel and Russia.
Indians may feel that there will be no middlemen making price differences.
Unexpectedly, Russia’s prices have risen from the ground up.
I said that Il 76 can be sold to you, but I’m sorry, the price has tripled! Reached $200 million per aircraft!
Although India was dissatisfied with Russia’s starting price, the situation was stronger, and ultimately India agreed to Russia’s terms.
Specially allocate 1 billion US dollars to execute this early warning aircraft project, and in this way, the price of each early warning aircraft will exceed 500 million US dollars!
So in the international arms industry, there has been a Unspoken rule that as long as India buys it, the price will double directly!
Russia, France, and Israel have all slaughtered India, how could the United States be left alone?
In 2011, India purchased 10 C-17 “Global Overlord” III strategic transport aircraft, mainly to rely on its super battlefield takeoff and landing capabilities, and to take off and land arms and materials at the airstrip in Ladakh, the disputed area between China and India.
But the total price of this contract reached an astonishing 4.1 billion US dollars!
$410 million per aircraft!
What is the price for purchasing the same aircraft by the US military?
$150 million.
What is the price for selling to allies?
190 million in Australia and 220 million in the UK.
There are also Apache helicopters, purchased by the US military for $30 million and sold to India for $100 million.
The purchase price of the M777 Howitzer is US $1.5 million for the US military and US $5 million for India.
Not to mention the $12 million predator, sold to India for 83 million
Um How to say it, perhaps Americans are better at doing business
two
The fate of an unjust seed
Some people are curious, is India just being slaughtered with its neck stretched out? Don’t you know how to save some money?
Actually, the situation of being slaughtered is also clear to Indians, but it is true that this unjust fate was brought about by India when it was established, and cannot be changed.
The first is ambition.
We all know that India was once a British colony, colonized for over 300 years.
Although India finally gained its independence, it was achieved by Gandhi’s nonviolent Non-cooperation movement and did not experience the test of blood and fire.
So it is completely different from countries that have gained independence and freedom through the baptism of cruel wars.
For example, in China, after liberation, it was well aware of the tragedy of being bullied and humiliated by foreign enemies, so China adheres to the diplomatic principle of peaceful coexistence.
But what about India?
Like a child who was inexplicably abdicated to the throne, what he saw was that the British Empire was at the height of its power, that the British were arrogant and overbearing, and that the The empire on which the sun never sets was invincible in the world.
So I couldn’t help but learn from the once strong person, but forgot that I was actually just one of the nations conquered by this strong person.
So India began unconsciously inheriting the mantle of Britain and applying the colonial thinking and hegemonism of the British Empire to India’s national strategy.
As the founding Prime Minister of India, Nehru, once said: India’s current status cannot be relegated to the ranks of second-rate countries, either to awe the world or to disappear.
So after India gained independence, it seemed like a dominant power in South Asia.
They conquered most of Kashmir, the Dammam Islands and the Kingdom of Sikkim, turned Nepal and Bhutan into India’s de facto “Protectorate”, launched three Indian Pakistani wars and dismembered East Pakistan.
India’s goal is to suppress Pakistan to the west, suppress Eastern powers to the north, suppress Bangladesh to the east, and turn the Indian Ocean into the Indian Ocean to the south.
We even need to maintain the ability to carry out military operations in the Middle East to ensure energy supply, ultimately joining the ranks of world hegemony like the United States.
This is India’s strategic idea of “limited regional deterrence”.
The problem is that if you want to deter, there must be a strong army!
But does India have it?
No.
The Indian army was born from the British Indian army of the colonial government at that time. It was originally the cannon fodder force of World War II and belonged to the Light infantry division.
When independent, tanks were all World War II models, and planes were also propeller planes,
This type of equipment is suitable for South Asia, and it is difficult to compete against China, let alone dominate the world, as it is suitable for small South Asian countries to peck at each other.
In the Sino-Indian War in 1962, China won the war with crispness.
Not only did they kill and capture over 8700 Indian soldiers, but they also seized a considerable amount of military weapons and equipment.
But in the end, China returned all these weapons to India.
At that time, the generals recalled that these firearms and ammunition were miscellaneous and rotten. Apart from a Mi6 helicopter that had some value, everything else was returned to India.
This war has cast a psychological shadow on India, and it has not eased so far.
Although India is desperately expanding its armaments, due to its poverty, coupled with its complex and bloated military strength, India’s current level of equipment is completely incompatible with its ambitions.
In 2010, at the Indian Air Force celebration, the Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force publicly said that nearly half of the weapons and equipment had fallen behind.
The The Times of India has also reported that the Indian Army is short of bullets, old weapons, and lagging air defense systems.
Another senior Indian general revealed that 41% of the equipment in the Indian army is very outdated, with only 12-15% being the most advanced. This trend is unlikely to change by 2030.
So if India wants to achieve its “limited regional deterrence” and no longer be overwhelmed by China at all times and everywhere, it must quickly and extensively update its weapons and equipment.
In addition, Modi started his career by inciting Ultranationalism in China, but in the face of rising nationalism, Modi is also a bit reluctant to leave.
It’s okay to shout slogans to defeat China, but if we really want to fight, we can’t beat it.
But if you are soft on China, you cannot explain to nationalist sentiment.
Therefore, Modi can only create the illusion of a “military power” by importing arms from abroad to appease domestic Ultranationalism and eliminate some abusive words against himself.
As long as there is such an inherent demand, international arms dealers are not worried about not making money from India.
Arms are not like buying cabbage. If this one is expensive, you can find another one. However, they involve many political factors and restrictions, and there is not much choice.
When the arms trade is in the seller’s market, being slaughtered is a normal phenomenon.
The second is that India’s industrial strength is really poor.
When it comes to the dream of a strong country, in fact, everyone has it, and the difference lies in how to achieve it.
The industrial foundation of India during its independence was actually much stronger than that of China at that time.
The railway mileage has reached nearly 65000 kilometers, while in China it was only 58000 kilometers in 1990;
There is also steel production. When New China was founded, China’s steel production was only 63000 tons, while India’s steel production had already exceeded 1.27 million tons.
In theory, with this foundation, India’s industrial development should be smooth sailing, far surpassing China.
But in fact, India lacks long-term planning and strategy.
Originally, some industrial foundations were indeed created through the state-owned model, but in 1991, India began market-oriented reforms.
Skip the traditional “agriculture industry service industry” development model and directly enter the “agriculture service industry” model.
In this way, the already weak industrial chain has completely lost its development momentum.
Industry is the foundation of everything, and if it doesn’t work, everything doesn’t work, including military industry.
Military industry is a special field, not price sensitive, but technology sensitive and process sensitive, which requires constant exploration and accumulation bit by bit.
Invest huge manpower and resources to establish corresponding research and development systems, production systems, and testing systems, and then produce high-precision and cutting-edge equipment.
This process is very difficult, even in China, it took decades, and now it has only achieved a small success.
But what about India?
Originally, the industrial foundation was not perfect. Even with the ambition to develop their own weapons and equipment, due to the incomplete industrial chain, the progress was either blocked by this project or that project.
The Indian Arjun tank, which was built for 30 years, is a good example, but in the end, it was only through imported subsystems that the tank was barely able to function.
The demand for national defense is a mandatory requirement, and if it cannot be created on its own or in a timely manner, is it unnecessary?
Of course not, but there’s a possibility of national subjugation!
Then we can only buy from foreign countries, which reflects the environmental gap between China and India.
Do you think China doesn’t want to buy it? Of course I want to, but Western countries first followed the Batumi Pact and then the Wassenaar Agreement, which blocked 80% of China’s arms import routes.
Whether China wants to purchase ready-made weapons from Western countries or technology that may be used for military purposes, it is subject to restrictions.
But India is different.
After all, India is the “largest democratic country in the world”, and its industrial base has not been seen as a major threat by the West, so it is not on the list of the Wassenaar Agreement.
So unlike China’s forced self-reliance, India can buy whatever it wants.
Who would spend more than a decade or even decades laying the foundation and establishing their own industrial system to improve military technology?
This is too slow to bring timely political achievements to Indian politicians.
Therefore, although India has been clamouring to promote the localization of equipment, the Path dependence of long-term outsourcing and the weak military industrial foundation have left India with more than enough strength and can only continue to buy with tears.
For the selling country, since India cannot make it itself, I will say whatever I say and the price will be whatever I say.
If you find it too expensive, I’m sorry. If you have the ability, you can find someone else to buy it. It may be even more expensive than me!
The third issue is the corruption of the Indian government, which leads to a serious phenomenon of arms kickbacks.
People who have been to India or Chinese companies doing business in India are deeply impressed by the corruption and inefficiency of the Indian government.
In fact, the Indian military is also the same.
In India, arms procurement is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and requires the consent of 18 departments.
Even if a normal procurement contract is delayed for three or four years, it is very normal.
If things don’t go smoothly, delaying seven or eight years is even more common.
Why is this happening?
To demonstrate power!
So if foreign arms dealers want to make money quickly, why not “show off”?
Of course, these are all normal operations, and there are even bizarre incidents where high-ranking officials in charge of arms procurement raise procurement prices to obtain more kickbacks, involving high-level politicians.
For example, in the 1980s, India purchased artillery from Sweden.
India spent $1.3 billion on 410 Swedish Bofors 155mm Howitzer.
When it comes to this cannon, it was not very advanced at the time and did not perform well in the bidding process, but it still won the final contract.
But soon, Western media reported that the Indian Rajiv Gandhi government had received a kickback of 46.2 million dollars from the Swedish Beaufort Company!
This incident caused a great stir. Finally, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was forced to step down and lost the 1989 general election.
The Indian government is openly doing this, let alone the military.
For example, in 2007, in the procurement and technology transfer contract for six Scorpène-class submarine in India and France, senior naval officers received rebates of up to $100 million through “intermediaries”.
Also, during the purchase of Su-30 fighter planes by India, “a marshal of Indian Air Force” received $1.5 million in cash from Russia and diamonds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Of course, the most outrageous ones are still the Rafale procurement cases in India and France.
As mentioned earlier, the price of one Rafale can buy two F35s, and such obvious fraud has reached the level of insulting intelligence.
So there have been rumors of corruption in procurement cases in India, but the Indian military has been using military secrets as an excuse to refuse to disclose procurement details.
Until 2021, a clue exposed by the French online magazine Mediapart raised the tip of the iceberg in this procurement corruption case.
French media reported that the new clues “involve Offshore company, suspicious contracts and ‘false’ invoices”.
After investigation by French media, it was found that a French company referred to as “D” (referring to Dassault, the manufacturer of Rafale) paid 14.6 million euros to an Indian company for the purchase of military components and fulfilled relevant insurance and tax procedures.
It seems like business cooperation is normal, but how could a world-renowned arms company purchase parts from a country like India? Do you dare to use Indian components?
After investigation, not only is the price of the products purchased by Dassault quite high, but there is no evidence to suggest that Dassault received the relevant products, which means that this is a false transaction.
Simply put, this Indian company is a white glove specifically used to collect payments from Dassault Company to high-ranking Indian military officials.
The specific operation is to raise prices during negotiations between high-ranking Indian officials and France, allowing Dassault Company to have higher profits, and then convert this profit into kickbacks, which are then returned to high-ranking Indian officials.
But the direct refund is too obvious, and this rebate must be disguised as a normal financial transaction, which requires a white hand to operate.
There have been rumors before that Dassault Company has paid a “secret commission” of at least 7.5 million euros to the intermediary, Sushen Gupta.
Coincidentally, the controlling party of this Indian company, which charges 14.6 million euros, is Sushin Gupta.
Now you know why India doesn’t buy the better performing heavy-duty Su-35 and instead buys the mid size Rafale?
Because there is a large profit margin!
The profit margin is large, and the operating space is certainly large!
After all, Su 35 only costs 75 million US dollars, while Rafale costs 240 million US dollars. Only by buying Rafale can the handler get more!
But then India’s statement became very interesting.
Mediapart stated that Indian government agencies have decided not to pursue this case.
Obviously, this rebate is just the tip of the iceberg. In case of investigation and a bigger scandal, will Modi follow Rajiv Gandhi’s example to step down?
How can a country with such a kickback tradition prevent India from being slaughtered when buying arms?
So, whether from the perspective of ambition or practical conditions, buying advanced weapons is a necessity for India, and this mentality is grasped by major powers, so there is no suspense about killing India.
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The Future of Unjustified Species
Being a wrong seed is not terrifying, but what is terrifying is that even being a wrong seed cannot achieve one’s ambitions.
China’s history has proven that military modernization cannot be bought by buying.
Before the liberation, although the Kuomintang introduced a large amount of arms and purchased many military machinery for decades, the level remained low until the liberation.
At that time, several domestic Arsenal, such as Shenyang Arsenal and Taiyuan Arsenal, could only produce a small number of machine guns, rifles and other light weapons, and could not even build mortars, let alone produce mechanized equipment.
The annual production capacity of ammunition can only reach 10000 tons, and we can only rely heavily on American aid during the war.
After liberation, he was trapped in a blockade, and apart from initially obtaining some military technology from the Soviet Union, he basically relied on his own exploration.
After carrying out the reform and opening up, China opened its doors and realized the gap between China and Western countries. After a painful experience, it once thought of purchasing advanced equipment from Western Europe in batches to carry out military upgrades.
For example, the army wanted to introduce the “Leopard -2” tank from West Germany, the navy wanted the British Type 42 destroyer that was brilliant in the Falklands War and wanted to introduce technology to transform the 051 destroyer, and the air force wanted to buy the F16 and French “Phantom” fighter planes, which even flew through the test flight.
However, Western arms dealers who value their interests only want to promote finished products and are unwilling to transfer core technologies, and their prices far exceed China’s affordability.
In addition, due to different social systems, maintenance and component supply may be hindered by Western countries at any time.
So at that time, Nie Shuai said that a large country like China could not buy a modernization of national defense.
So China has chosen to focus on self research, supplemented by the introduction of some advanced foreign technologies for digestion and absorption.
Later, with the development of China’s economy and the increase in scientific research investment, China made some significant breakthroughs in military research every year.
A large number of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation achievements have been made in the fields of aviation, aerospace, ships, weapons, military electronics, engineering physics and other high-tech fields.
These technologies have brought about a major explosion in China’s military level over the past decade.
It is this deep obsession with military independence that has prevented China from falling into the cycle of “buying backward, buying backward again”. Up to now, China is one of the countries with the highest domestic rate of arms supply.
India is different, and this country can be regarded as a model of high vision but low skill.
India has a serious mismatch between its own strength and resources and its goals, as well as a mentality of luck and opportunism. Under this mentality, India has repeatedly encountered obstacles and suffered losses.
For example, after the border conflict between China and India in 2020, US Secretary of State Pompeo and United States Secretary of Defense Esper will visit India immediately to cheer India up and persuade India to cooperate with the US Indo Pacific strategy.
India is pondering that if it cooperates with the US Indo Pacific strategy, it may be able to profit from the Sino US game.
So we see that India not only joined the US, Japan, India, and Australia “Four Party Security Dialogue”, but also maintained an aggressive posture on the border.
In particular, starting from the winter of 2020, we will change the practice of pulling down before the heavy snow capped mountains, and arrange 50000 troops to enter Ladakh to confront China, which will curb China’s energy.
You should know that stationed on snowy mountains in winter is not for fun.
There should be a warm barracks, high-grade antifreeze diesel, anti cold clothing, anti cold boots, high temperature cooking utensils, anti snow glasses, and so on.
But India has nothing but to buy now, which gives Western countries another opportunity to make money?
Even Swedish companies that make hiking tents have made a fortune.
So in our photos of India, we often see colorful tents without any camouflage effect, not like armies, but rather like tourist groups.
The most extreme is the United States.
At the end of September 2020, the United States transferred 11000 sets of cold clothing from the strategic reserve of the Army to India.
But upon receiving it, India found that a considerable portion of these winter jackets were second-hand goods worn by American soldiers, with common phenomena such as holes and discoloration, and even some had not been washed for many years.
Indian soldiers were choked by the clothes worn by American soldiers with a strong smell of sweat and rancid smell, and they all went online to roast.
What’s even more terrifying is that this confrontation is not just a day or two, but rather years and months.
These troops consume a massive amount of materials every day, including cold clothing, as well as logistical support materials such as grain and oil.
These materials need to be transported up the winding road by car step by step, and once a truckload of oil is used up, a small portion of the truckload will be burned.
According to statistics, India pays a heavy price of nearly $20 billion annually to maintain a huge military presence at the border.
20 billion dollars!
This huge consumption is equivalent to a quarter of India’s military expenditure!
India has paid such a high price to cooperate with the US Indo Pacific strategy, but what has India gained?
There’s nothing.
Munitions?
Instead, the United States provided 72500 Sig-16 Assault rifle to India, solving the embarrassing situation that India’s Yingsas rifles could not be used in cold regions.
But these guns were bought by India with money, totaling $900 million, equivalent to over $10000 per gun.
And even better, the German HK416 is only $3000 per unit.
Obviously, India has been slaughtered again.
Assistance?
In 2021, the second wave of epidemic broke out in India, with more than 200000 confirmed cases for several consecutive days. The crematorium Incinerator burned out, and there was a serious shortage of medical supplies such as respirators, oxygen, vaccines, protective clothing, and drugs in Indian hospitals.
But when India urgently sought help from the United States and requested epidemic prevention supplies and vaccines, it was rejected by the United States.
Because the United States prioritizes ensuring domestic demand, even if inventory is temporarily unavailable, it is unwilling to provide it to India.
Trade?
India originally planned to use the opportunity of Western countries decoupling from China to sign a free trade agreement with the United States and seize China’s overseas market share.
But soon Biden poured cold water on India. The United States informed India that it refused to sign a free trade agreement with India and stated that “the United States is no longer interested in India”.
You see, India wanted to speculate, but in the end, it became a big loser.
Now India can barely support, but with the worldwide Economic stagnation and recession, it can be said that it is a huge blow to countries that mainly rely on exports to earn foreign exchange.
India regards the United States as its center of gravity, and its dependence on the US market is increasing. As a result, US demand has shrunk, directly leading to the collapse of India’s exports.
In 2021, India had foreign exchange reserves of $569.8 billion. By December 1, 2022, India’s foreign exchange reserves had dropped to $529.9 billion.
India’s total external debt exceeds 600 billion US dollars, strictly speaking, India is already insolvent.
It should be noted that India is a highly dependent country on foreign countries, especially in terms of energy, oil, and even coal, which are almost entirely dependent on imports.
If there is a foreign exchange crisis and the money for selling coal to generate electricity is gone, how can there be more foreign exchange for purchasing weapons?
Western countries will inevitably demand payment and delivery of contracts that are already being fulfilled.
This will bring great difficulties to the equipment construction of the Indian army, and even whether some trump weapons can work normally is still unknown.
When the painting of a military power is punctured, the buildings that were originally supported by arms and nationalism will collapse.
So, India’s desire to become a major country like China is not wrong, but rather India’s lack of stability.
If one does not honestly develop their own industry, and solidly engage in military industry autonomy from scratch, always hoping to opportunistically buy and support the image of a “vibrant” great country, then they will only become pawns on the big chessboard and cannot be chess players.
If India does not change all of this again, even if it buys more weapons, it is destined to still suffer from head to toe and continue the fate of the great injustice.
This article is reproduced with the authorization of official account Maoge’s Vision (ID: maogeshijue).