International

More Russian fighter planes coming

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW APRIL 10. The Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, had some good news for his Indian counterpart, George Fernandes, when he greeted the latter her on Wednesday.

Russia is shipping the second batch of 40 T-90 tanks to India and has finalised the schedule for the delivery of the first lot of upgraded SU-30MKI fighter planes.

Mr. Fernandes arrived here leading a nine-member delegation for talks expected to focus on joint development of futuristic weapons, product support for the Russian arms supplied earlier and delivery schedules under the existing contracts. Acquisition of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier may also be finalised.

India's Ambassador to Russia, K. Raghunath, described the talks on Gorshkov as being "at a very advanced stage.'' At the same time, he said "no deals'' would be signed during Mr. Fernandes' visit.

Defence sources said here that Mr. Fernandes may ask Moscow to assemble more tanks at the Uralvagonzavod tank factory in Nizhny Tagil, which he will visit on Friday. He may also request Russia to speed up the delivery of the upgraded SU-30MKI multi-role fighter planes.

In May-June, Russia will deliver the first 10 SU-30MKI multi-role planes built at the Irkutsk aviation plant (IAPO). The IAF has already inducted 18 SU-30 planes, an earlier version of the multi-role long-range fighter, but the induction of the SU-30 MKI will give the IAF a generational leap in air power. ``SU-30MKI is practically a new aircraft,'' the IAPO General-Director, Alexei Fyodorov, told The Hindu. ''It has almost the same manoeuvrability as an aerobatics plane and a greatly enhanced firepower.

"On April 2, a group of IAF pilots began a theoretical course in SU-30MKI piloting techniques at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy in Moscow. They will be given flying training by Russian instructors in India next month after the induction of the first SU-30MKI planes. ``Pilots find it easier to switch over from MiG-29 to SU-30 that from SU-30 to SU-30MKI,'' the IAPO chief said. The IAPO plant will supply another 22 SU-30MKI planes over the next year, whereafter it will upgrade the earlier delivered SU-30 aircraft. In 2004 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will begin indigenous licensed production of 140 SU-30MKI planes.

During his four-day visit, Mr. Fernandes will hold substantive talks with the Russian Defence Minister, and call on the President, Vladimir Putin. He will also meet the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, the Minister for Science and Industry, Ilya Klebanov.

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