India, Russia make progress on major defence deals- Kamov choppers, S-400 Triumf air defence and BrahMos

NEW DELHI: India and Russia have made progress on major defence projects such as the joint construction of the Kamov Ka-226T helicopters, co-development of the BrahMos cruise missiles and the procurement of the Russian S-400 Triumf air defence systems at the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation held in Delhi today.

The developments were shared by Russian based news agency, Sputnik.

According to a report published by Sputnik, at the 16th intergovernmental commission, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said: “We note progress in our large projects such as joint construction of Ka-226 helicopters, BrahMos cruise missiles, S-400 Triumph air defense systems.”

"I think today is a good opportunity to summarize the past year and identify the challenges for the next year. We are ready to discuss the most pressing issues, problems and prospects of our military and military-technical cooperation. Additional tasks assigned during the meeting of the leaders of Russia and India on October 15-16 suggest that we need to expand our sphere of military-technical cooperation," the minister added.

The report also mentioned Shoigu as saying that India and Russia had started discussing and would continue discussing issues related to the after-sales service of the previously supplied military equipment.

As per the report, Shoigu agreed with Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar that "it is necessary to prepare a more extensive and more voluminous road map for bilateral military cooperation" between the military departments of the two countries.