Countries finalising plans to make emphatic joint entry into booming military aviation sector by developing multi-purpose medium transport aircraft.
MOSCOW: India and Russia are finalising plans to make an emphatic joint entry into the booming military aviation sector by developing a multi-purpose medium transport aircraft.
An agreement to design, develop and jointly produce the aircraft is expected to be signed during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Moscow in the first week of December, said defence minister Pranab Mukherjee here.
The proposal for jointly producing the aircraft, with a carrying capacity of around 20 tons, was first made by Russians some time back, but it never gathered enough momentum due to various irritants in the bilateral relations. But now, India has submitted the draft of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries for the aircraft production, Mukherjee said.
Senior officials said the joint production would demand an investment of around Rs 7000 crores, and would be the biggest joint effort by India and Russia in any field. From Indian side Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would be the participating company, while an aviation company from Russia would come on board as a partner.
Mukherjee said the Russians had wanted some sort of governmental guarantee for the project and the draft MoU submitted during his visit last week incorporate that, based on the existing Indo-Russian bilateral treaties.
Mukherjee said he was confident that the project would be "ready for signature during Prime Minister's visit".
Manmohan Singh would be visiting Moscow for the annual Indo-Russian summit between the Indian Prime Minister and Russian President, during which this time both the sides would also sign an agreement on Intellectual Property Rights in defence sector.
Mukherjee said an in-principle order for 145 of the proposed aircraft already exists: the Russians would buy 100 for their military and Indian Air Force would buy 45.
The IAF has for sometime now been planning to acquire a mid-size transport aircraft, one which is bigger than the AN-32s and smaller than IL-76 that it has. Among the options IAF had been thinking about is the American C-130 Hercules aircraft. But the decision to speed up the joint production would change the scenario.
The plane, officials point out, would not only be a transporter for the military but it could also converted into a passenger plane capable of carrying around 100 passengers. Given the booming aviation sector, the plane would have a huge market outside the military, they say. The plane would be cheaper than its equivalent products available elsewhere in the world, they add.
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