India, Russia to fast-track joint military programmes

NEW DELHI: India and Russia have decided to fast-track joint military programmes, including the proposed joint development and production of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) project, which has been stuck for the last three years now.

"We discussed all the issues, including the FGFA. We have decided to fast-track many of the issues," said defence minister Manohar Parrikar, after holding a delegation-level meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday.

With India having "some apprehensions" about the slow pace in execution of projects with Russia, the two ministers decided to hold "interactions at regular intervals" to ensure project deadlines are kept.

Parrikar also told Shoigu that Russian armament companies should participate in the 'Make in India' endeavour of the Modi government "in a big way", even as they discussed "possible future areas of cooperation in high-technology defence platforms and armaments".

This India-Russia defence meeting comes just ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit, amid the race between the two erstwhile Cold War adversaries to grab a bigger share of the lucrative Indian market by promising co-development and co-production of advanced weapon systems, as reported by TOI earlier.

Before inking the final R&D contract for the FGFA, which was to be stitched up by 2012, India is keen that Russia resolve the technical issues as well as ensure that the stealth fighter's deliveries begin much before the earlier slated induction from 2024-2025 onwards.

The two countries have to pitch in with $5.5 billion each towards the cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing of the FGFA once the final contract is signed. The 127 single-seat fighters for India, to be built at the Ozar facility of Hindustan Aeronautics in Nashik, will cost extra. In all, India will spend a total of $25 billion on the entire FGFA project.

During the Obama visit, in turn, India and the US will ink their new 10-year defence framework, which will incorporate the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) for the first time.

The co-production under DTTI will kick-off with only two "simple technologies" like a hand-launched mini UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and aircraft surveillance-cum-intelligence gathering modules.