ANTONY 3 LAST

During the meeting, continuation of the India-Russia
Joint Venture 'BrahMos' cruise missile project and development
of the next generation hypersonic BrahMos-II cruise missiles
will also be discussed, apart from the proposal to integrate
BrahMos missiles on the Sukhoi fighter jets.

Among the major new projects high in the priority list
of the Indian delegation would be projects for joint design
and development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft
(FGFA) and the Multi-Role Transport Aircraft (MTA), for which
an agreement was signed during the Prime Minister's visit to
Moscow in 2007.

"The co-development and co-production of the FGFA with
Sukhoi Design Bureau Russia has been progressing, with several
rounds of discussion already completed to finalise the
technical requirements," Kar said.

During discussions at IRIGC-MTC meeting, Antony and
his delegation comprising Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar,
Secretary (Defence Production) R K Singh and Director General
(Acquisition) S K Sharma would emphasis on completing FGFA
development phase by 2016 as originally anticipated and
induction of the aircraft into the Indian Air Force by 2017,
he added.

Both sides have been discussing a Joint Venture
company to execute the project involving design, development
and production of a Medium Transport Aircraft in the 15-tonne
to 20 tonne class to meet the requirements of the Russian and
Indian Armed Forces, which is likely to be concluded shortly.

At the conclusion of this year's IRIGC-MTC meeting,
India and Russian would sign a protocol for current and future
bilateral defence cooperation, Kar added. PTI