Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov’s offer to sell India nuclear fuel indicates that the India-Russia relationship is still extremely important.

India has struck a deal with the US that will permit the launch of US satellites and satellites containing US components by the Indian space launch vehicles. With Russia, India has signed two important agreements with respect to the Global Satellite Navigation System (GLONASS). This country will launch the Russian navigation satellite, GLONASS-M, through a variant of its Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The second agreement is on the joint development of GLONASS navigation satellites, GLONASS-K.

These agreements with Russia have a significant military dimension, too, since some 70 per cent of Indian military hardware comes from Russia and most of it is directly compatible with GLONASS. This radio satellite navigation system is similar to America’s GPS and EU’s futuristic Galileo systems.

GOLNASS is operated for the Russian government by the Russian Space Forces. Theoretically, such a constellation would consist of 24 satellites. Currently only the GPS operates with the full complement of 24 satellites. GLONASS is a system that dates back to the eighties, with the first satellites entering service in December 1983. However, because of the precarious economic situation prevailing in Russia at that point, there were only eight satellites in operation by April 2002. This rendered the system almost useless as a navigation aid. By March 2004, with 11 satellites in operation, the system became somewhat operational. India intends to help Russia to make this system fully operational by the year 2008. Also, India is going to share the developmental costs of the GLONASS-K series of satellites.

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