India is likely to finalise a fresh deal with Russia for purchase of aircraft carrier 'Admiral Gorshkov' during a three-day visit of defence minister AK Antony to Moscow next week.
India is likely to finalise a fresh deal with Russia for purchase of aircraft carrier 'Admiral Gorshkov' besides holding talks on decade-old defence cooperation between them during a three-day visit of defence minister AK Antony to Moscow next week.
Though officially the Indian side is declining to admit, defence ministry sources said here that the deal for refit of Gorshkov, for which Russia is demanding $2.9bnn from India as against the 2004 contracted price of $974mn, would be signed during Antony's visit beginning October 13.
The defence minister will also be holding discussions on taking forward on-going projects such as development of fifth generation fighter aircraft, production of T-90 tanks and issues relating to BrahMos missiles and Sukhoi upgrades.
The defence ministry only said that Antony would co-chair on October 14 and 15 the ninth meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC). The IRIGC-MTC meets annually, alternatively in India
and Russia, during which defence ministers of the two countries review and discuss matters relating to bilateral defence cooperation.
The two sides would also hold talks and finalise modalities for extending the IRIGC-MTC by another 10 years after the first such agreement signed in 1998 ends in 2010, defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said.
The extension of the IRIGC-MTC programme beyond 2010 was earlier discussed by prime minister Manmohan Singh during his meeting with then Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow in 2007.
The discussions at the defence ministers level will pave the way for conclusion of the agreement during Singh's upcoming visit to Russia in December this year for the summit meeting between him and president Dmitry Medvedev.
The indigenous production of the Russian origin T-90S tanks at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi under license from Russia, one of the major on-going projects, in which Moscow is providing technical and product support for the indigenous production of tanks will also be discussed at IRIGC-MTC.
The modernisation of the SU-30MKI air superiority fighter aircraft is also expected to come up for discussion in the meeting, Kar said.
The Sukhoi fighter jet, contracted in 1996, are due for overhaul shortly and the Russians have offered an upgrade for the aircraft with incorporation of the latest technologies. During the meeting, continuation of the India-Russia Joint Venture 'BrahMos' cruise missile project and development of the next generation hypersonic BrahMos-II cruise missiles will also be discussed, apart from the proposal to integrate BrahMos missiles on the Sukhoi fighter jets.
Among the major new projects high in the priority list of the Indian delegation would be projects for joint design and development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) and the Multi-Role Transport Aircraft (MTA), for which an agreement was signed during the Prime Minister's visit to Moscow in 2007.
"The co-development and co-production of the FGFA with Sukhoi Design Bureau Russia has been progressing, with several rounds of discussion already completed to finalise the technical requirements," Kar said.
During discussions at IRIGC-MTC meeting, Antony and his delegation comprising Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, secretary (defence production) RK Singh and director general (acquisition) SK Sharma would emphasis on completing FGFA development phase by 2016 as originally anticipated and induction of the aircraft into the IAF by 2017, he added.
Both sides have been discussing a joint venture company to execute the project involving design, development and production of a Medium Transport Aircraft in the 15-tonne to 20 tonne class to meet the requirements of the Russian and Indian Armed Forces, which is likely to be concluded shortly.
At the conclusion of this year's IRIGC-MTC meeting, India and Russian would sign a protocol for current and future bilateral defence cooperation, Kar added.
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