Russian Rosoboronexport Identified as Lowest Bidder for India's $1.5B VSHORAD Contest

Russian state-run Rosoboronexport has been identified as the lowest bidder for the $1.5 billion deal for Very Short Range Air Defense Systems (VSHORAD) for the Indian Army.

“The Russian company was declared as the L1, which essentially means that the deal will be given to Russia for the supply of IGLA-S to the Indian armed forces,” Indian media reports stated Tuesday.

The Indian forces need at least 1000 such missiles. This will be the second major deal with Russia in the recent months if it goes through. India signed a $5.2 billion deal to buy five regiments of S-400 air defense missile systems from Moscow.

Swedish Saab (RBS70G), French MBDA (Mistral) and Russian Rosoboronexport (IGLA-S) had fielded their systems for procurement. The VSHORAD tender is intended for the Army and estimated over $5 bn for 5175 missiles and 1276 single and multi-launchers with stipulated technology transfer requirement for Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU), according to earlier reports in March this year.

The system should have a maximum range of 6 km and an altitude of 3 km, besides all-weather capability. It will replace the IGLA.