Discuss the strategic significance of India's defence ties with the Soviet Union/Russia in building its naval capabilities.

In 1976, The Hindu described the Russian-made conventional submarine INS Karanj as part of "perhaps the most powerful arm of the Indian Navy" [1]. Ties with Moscow gave India its first submarines, its carrier aviation and much of its surface fleet. They built naval power quickly, but they also left India dependent on one supplier.

Strategic significance

• Foundation of the undersea arm: Soviet-built diesel-electric boats armed with torpedoes and mine-laying gave India a sea-denial capability from the start [1]. The original Karanj served until 2003 [2].
• Carrier aviation: INS Vikramaditya is the refurbished ex-Admiral Gorshkov. It was commissioned at Severodvinsk in 2013 and carries MiG-29K fighters and Kamov-31 helicopters [3].
• Surface combatants: Russia still builds Project 1135.6 frigates for India. INS Tushil was commissioned at Kaliningrad in December 2024 [4].
• From buyer to co-developer: Tushil carries the jointly developed BrahMos missile [4]. This shows the relationship moving beyond simple purchases.
• Strategic autonomy: A dependable partner since the Cold War, Russia is now described as a "Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership" [5].

Limitations and concerns

• Ageing fleet: The 1999 30-year plan aimed for 12 submarines by 2012, but none had been inducted by 2016-17. The Navy was running boats 16–30 years old [6].
• Capability gap: In 2017-18 the Navy had 14 conventional boats plus one leased boat, against a goal of 18 conventional and 6 nuclear-powered submarines [7].
• Low indigenous content: Even the newest Russian frigate has only about 26% indigenous content [4].
• Single-supplier risk: Spares, refits and lifecycle support all depend on one country. This pushed India to add other partners, such as the French-designed Scorpenes built at MDL, including today's INS Karanj [2].

Russia built the backbone of Indian naval power, from the 1976 Karanj to Tushil. The way forward is to keep co-development models like BrahMos while speeding up home-grown design, such as DRDO's fuel-cell AIP for the Kalvari class [8]. In line with Aatmanirbhar Bharat, this would let a long-standing partnership support India's strategic autonomy without limiting it.