Article Posted on : - Apr 24, 2009

Dummy presentation of MTA aircraft at Aero India

MOSCOW, (PTI): Russia will pump in USD 64 million to finance the Indo-Russian multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) project which will develop futuristic planes for the armed forces of the two countries.

The amount allocated by the Russian government would be utilised in the current year to finance the joint development and production of the aircraft, a media report said on Thursday.

"The Russian government has signed a directive to launch the Russian-Indian project for the development of the MTA military transport plane, USD 64 million have been allocated from the federal budget for this project in 2009," the general director of the Ilyushi design bureau Viktor Livanov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The agreement signed in 2007 says that Russia and India will equally share the cost of USD 600 million project.

The planes, with a 20-ton cargo capacity, are expected to go in service with the Russian and Indian air forces in about eight years, Livanov said.

The Russian participants in the project include Ilyushin design bureau and Irkut Corporation, while from the Indian side Hindustan Aearonautics Ltd (HAL) is partnering the project.

India is expected to procure 45 MTA planes, while Russia, which needs to replace its outdated fleet of An-12, An-26 and An-32 transport planes, is most likely to commission at least 100 aircrafts.