Article Posted on : - Oct 09, 2009

Admiral Gorshkov at Sevmash deck undergoing repair work. Image credit: Miliatry photos

NEW DELHI (PTI): India is likely to finalise a fresh deal with Russia for purchase of aircraft carrier 'Admiral Gorshkov' besides holding talks on decades-old defence cooperation between them during a three-day visit of Defence Minister A K 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 USD 2.9 billion from India as against the 2004 contracted price of USD 974 million, 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.

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) R K Singh and Director General (Acquisition) S K 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.