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Decks cleared for top Indo-Russia deal

The deal worth $30 billion was agreed upon at a meeting of India Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) in New Delhi on Thursday.

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Decks have been cleared for one of the biggest defence deals between India and Russia for acquiring 300 fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA).

After the agreement is signed during Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s Delhi visit in December, India will become the world’s largest operator of FGFA by 2022.

The swing-role FGFA would have advanced avionics with 360 degrees situational awareness, enhanced lethality, stealth for survivability, data links, smart weapons, dry power super cruise and better reliability mission computers and would weigh 30 tonnes each.

The deal worth $30 billion was agreed upon at a meeting of India Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) in New Delhi on Thursday. The Russian and Indian sides were led by defence ministers AE Serdyukov and AK Antony.

As of today, only the US has FGFA, close to 200 F-22 Raptors, and it refuses to share the technology of the single-seaters. For sale to other countries, it has come up with a joint strike fighter F-35, which is being developed and funded by a group of 12 countries, and is on offer to the Indian navy as well.

Antony said after the IRIGC-MTC meeting, “In the area of defence, Russia has been our trusted partner for a long time and remains so. From 2010 to 2020, MTA [multi-role transport aircraft] and FGFA will be our flagship programmes.

All issues have been discussed and solved. As per this agreement, India will receive approx 250-300 most-modern FGFA.” He said India would also receive about 45 MTA.

Serdyukov said, “We have already done the design of the plane, developed time-frames and decided price. The draft of the contract has already been submitted to Indian, which is considering it.

When asked about the delay in delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and a nuclear submarine, Antony said it was a matter of concern, but Serdyukov said, “We have a great volume of military and technical projects and it is natural to have some delays. I have also raised a number of issues today with my Indian colleagues.”

New Delhi has been grappling with cost and time overruns in most defence deals with Russia.

Former Air Chief FH Major told DNA, “By the time these aircraft start coming in, older ones would be ready for a phase-out, so the strength will remain the same.”

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