India, Russia sign FGFA joint development deal

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Further cementing their robust
defence relations, India and Russia on Tuesday signed a USD
295 million deal for joint design and development of advanced
fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) that will form the
backbone of IAF's combat fleet beyond 2020.

Under the contract signed on the margins of a meeting
between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev here, India will be getting about
200 to 250 FGFA which would reportedly cost over USD 30
billion.
"The total cost, including the options and the value of
production of the aircraft, will make this the biggest defence
programme ever in the history of India involving production of
over 200 to 250 aircraft," a Defence Ministry official said
here after the deal for design and development of the
aircraft was signed.
The USD 295 million is for the preliminary design of the
FGFA, drawing on the basic structural and design of Russian
FGFA Technology Demonstrator which has already carried out its
flight tests a few of months ago.
The FGFA for the IAF would have modifications to meet the
Indian specifications, which are much more stringent, the
official said.
This will be the second such joint design and development
project the two countries will work on, the first being the
highly successful BrahMos supersonic cruise missile project.
The FGFA contract was signed by Rosoboronexport General
Director A Isaykin, RAC MIG and Sukhoi General Director M
Pogosyan, HAL Chairman Ashok Nayak and HAL Director (Design
and Development) N C Agarwal.
The FGFA project is another indication of the changing
dynamics in the relations between the two countries in the
defence sector, from a 'buyer-seller' for nearly five decades
to 'equal partners' in joint research, design, development,
production and marketing.
While the preliminary design of the contract will take 10
months, the two sides are likely to depute 40 scientists each
to work in both Russia and India on the project to get six
prototypes of the aircraft ready for tests.
The aircraft is expected to be ready for production by
2017. The deliveries of the aircraft to the IAF is expected to
begin in 2020 and would go on till 2030. The fighter jet would
serve the IAF for over 40 years.
The FGFA, which will be called the Perspective Multi-role
Fighter (PMF) project by the two sides, will have advanced
features such as stealth, super cruise, ultra-manoeuvrability,
highly-integrated avionics suite, enhanced situational
awareness, internal carriage of weapons and network centric
warfare capabilities. PTI AJD
PBL