New Delhi, Jan 22
The joint development of a fifth generation fighter and a mid-sized
transport aircraft is likely to figure at the annual meeting of the
Indian and Russian defence ministers here Wednesday, but it could be
a while before agreements on this are inked.
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Russian counterpart
Sergei Ivanov will discuss an entire range of issues at the sixth
meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical
Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) here, officials said.
"We have been greatly buoyed by the success of the BrahMos cruise
missile (jointly developed by India and Russia). The Russians have
submitted a paper on the joint development of a fifth generation
fighter and a transport aircraft," a defence ministry official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
"These proposals have been considered in the ministry and we have
given our views. The proposals are likely to figure at the
ministerial meeting," added the official, without elaborating when
formal agreements are likely to be signed.
A Russian general was more forthright, saying that while the
ministers would discuss the proposals, formal agreements would be
signed only later.
"These issues will be in the focus (during the meeting)... I hope
(the) agreements will be signed with the Indian side within the next
few months. The implementation of these projects is very important
to both Russia and India," Col. Gen. Anatoly Mazurkevich, who heads
the international military cooperation department of the Russian
defence ministry, was quoted as saying in Moscow.
He was speaking to reporters ahead of Ivanov's departure for India.
Ivanov, who is also Russia's deputy prime minister, arrived Monday
in Bangalore, where he will visit defence establishments including
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and meet captains of civil and
defence industries. He will also interact with IT professionals.
Ivanov will then travel to New Delhi and join the delegation of
Russian President Vladimir Putin, the chief guest at the Republic
Day celebrations Jan 26.
Currently, the only operational fifth generation fighter in the
world is the US F-22 Raptor, the most expensive combat jet at $258
million apiece.
Fourth generation fighters comprise the F-15s, F-16s and F-18s as
also the MiG-29 and Mirage-2000 the Indian Air Force (IAF) flies. At
the intermediate stage between these and fifth generation fighters
are aircraft like the Sukhoi Su-30 that is also in the IAF
inventory.
There could, however, be two stumbling blocs on the Indian-Russian
fifth generation fighter.
For one, HAL is known to be working on a similar project and has
made considerable progress on its design. Officials said HAL would
undoubtedly insist on much of this being incorporated in the joint
version, which the Russians might not easily agree to.
Secondly, there is the question of development costs, with the
Russians placing this at $6 billion, to be shared equally by the two
countries. Against this, the development of the F-35, described as a
medium class fifth generation fighter, has been estimated at $20
billion.
"Either the Russian math is all wrong or what they are proposing is
not strictly a fifth generation fighter but a lower end version,"
said one official.
With 70 percent of the equipment of the Indian armed forces being of
Russian origin, the IRIGC-MTC was established in 2000 to cover areas
like interaction between the two militaries, technical cooperation,
supply of defence systems, equipment upgradation, licensed and joint
production and joint development and production.
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