Article Posted on : - Sep 15, 2009

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian Prime Minister Valdimir Putin asked Europe to follow Indo-Russian defence cooperation as a good example for its defence divisions, according to a media report.

According to the English Daily, The Hindu, Europe was missing a chance to make money when it turned down his repeated offers to jointly undertake defence projects out of fear to cooperate with Russia in such a sensitive sphere, Mr. Putin said at a meeting with foreign experts in the Valdai discussion club in Russia.

Israel had no such fears and agreed to supply radars for the Russian Il-76 aircraft in a successful project to create an airborne early warning system for India, the report said.

Mr. Putin extol BRAHMOS supersonic missile, which Russia and India have jointly built. “We have built a very good missile, BRAHMOS, that we too will induct in our armed forces,” The Hindu Quoted Russain PM as saying.

“Russia and India would jointly design and manufacture a military transport aircraft, which was something that only Russia and the U.S. could build so far. Instead of snooping around for the blueprints of the [Russian-Ukrainian] An-70 transport plane, our German and French friends should have joined forces with us and built a good military transport aircraft with a short takeoff and ability to operate from unpaved airfields, which they don’t have,” he said.

“Russia and India were now building a fifth-generation attack aircraft of the kind that Europe did not have either," he added.