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India, Russia sign pact to build combat aircraft

— Photo: PTI

A leap forward: Defence Minister A. K. Antony signs an agreement for the fighter aircraft with his Russian counterpart, Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich, in Moscow on Thursday.

MOSCOW: Defence cooperation between India and Russia has taken a great leap forward with the signing of a multi-billion pact to build a futuristic combat aircraft and the coming lease of a Russian nuclear submarine to India.

“The 5th-generation plane agreement will give a new quality to our defence ties with Russia,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said. “It marks the start of cooperation in the development of state-of-the-art new-technology weapon systems.”

The intergovernmental agreement to jointly design, develop, and manufacture the 5th-generation multi-role jet fighter was inked at the 7th session of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission (IRIGC) on Military-Technical Cooperation on Thursday.

“Russia is also set to lease out to India an Akula-II nuclear submarine for a period of 10 years beginning with 2008 or 2009,” the Izvestia national daily reported on Thursday.

During the two-day session, co-chaired by Mr. Antony and his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov, the sides decided to start drafting a new long-term programme for defence cooperation. The current programme for the period 2000-2010 involves 200 defence projects estimated at $18 billion.

“We will further strengthen all-round defence cooperation and extend it to the future,” Mr. Antony said after the IRIGC session closed on Thursday. “We have decided to expand our cooperation in R&D and have more co-development and co-production projects in aviation and other defence hardware.”

Describing the IRIGC session as a “landmark” event, Mr. Antony said an intergovernmental agreement for the joint design and manufacture of the Multi-Role Transport Aircraft (MTA) for the military would be signed shortly. Russian sources said the deal would be inked during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin next month.

The military of the two countries have also decided to increase the frequency and raise the level and scope of joint military exercises, as well as expand reciprocal training programmes.

“This will mark the start of a new strategic relationship based on greater interaction at the various operational levels,” Mr. Antony remarked.

The Minister said all questions pertaining to the acquisition and production of T-90S Main Battle Tanks, Su-30MKI planes and other equipment had been sorted out. Russia would supply more 347 T-90S tanks and 40 Su-30MKI jets.

Summing up the results of the IRIGC, Mr. Serdyukov said: “Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation is developing dynamically and progressively in such fields as joint development of technologies, joint production and supplies of military products to third countries, and the perfection of business and financial relations with the view of attaining effectiveness and mutual benefit.”

Commenting on the 5th-generation jet pact, the head of the Sukhoi aircraft company, which is designing the plane, said joint work on the project would be modelled along the lines of the BrahMos missile joint venture.

“We will share the funding, engineering and intellectual property in a 50-50 proportion,” Mikhail Pogosyan said. “We hope that the export potential of the new aircraft will be higher now that it is a joint project between our two countries.” He disclosed that the Indian version of the 5th-generation aircraft would be different from the Russian version because of specific Indian requirements.

“Implementation of the project will bring closer the technological basis of the Russian and Indian aircraft industries, beginning with design and ending with production technologies,” a spokesman for the Russian Federal Agency for Military-Technical Cooperation told the RIA-Novosti news agency.

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