MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Indian armed forces have received their first batch of 24 Russian Igla-S man-portable air defense systems and 100 missiles, Indian news portal The Print reported Monday.
In November, India and Russia signed a contract for the supply of 120 systems and 400 missiles. Although the first systems were supplied from Russia the remaining ones will reportedly be produced in India.
The Indian military is currently using the outdated Igla-1M portable air defense systems, according to the article in The Print.
Observers have praised the quality of Russian armaments, which have proven their effectiveness against Ukraine's western-supplied weapons throughout the Donbass conflict.
"There truly is no exaggeration whatsoever when Russia’s tank-building tradition is described as the most advanced in the world," said Brian Berletic, a geopolitical analyst and former US Marine. "Russia for many years worked on making itself more self-sufficient in general... This clearly paid off when Western sanctions in 2022 failed to have the crippling impact Washington, London, and Brussels had hoped for, and instead backfired on the West itself."