India inks Rs 200 crore defence deal with Russia for ‘Strum Ataka’ anti-tank missile

Under the emergency provisions, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed an Rs 200 crore defence deal with Russia to acquire ‘Strum Ataka’ anti-tank missile for its fleet of Mi-35 attack choppers. The Mi-35s are the existing attack choppers of the Indian Air Force and are set to be replaced with the Apache gunships being acquired from the US and slated to be delivered from next month onwards. Earlier, in June 2019, IAF signed Rs 300 crore deal with an Israeli defence firm to procure a batch of ‘Spice 2000’ guided bombs. These bombs are already present with the IAF and were used in the Balakot air strikes by Dassault’s Mirage 2000 to target Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps across the Line of Control (LoC). With this, the IAF has emerged as the frontrunner in terms of weapon acquisition under the emergency procurement, followed by the Indian Army. Under the emergency powers given to the three services, they can buy the equipment of their choice within three months at a cost of up to Rs 300 crore per case.