Topic: Indo-Russian Copter Deal Includes Buys, Upgrades

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Indo-Russian Copter Deal Includes Buys, Upgrades
By Vivek Raghuvanshi



NEW DELHI — The Indian Defence Ministry has approved a $450 million program to upgrade the avionics and sensors on 172 medium-lift helicopters and to purchase an additional 80 Russian Mi-17 copters.
Negotiations for the program were finalized during an Oct. 18 meeting in Russia of Indian Defence Minister A.K. Anthony with his counterpart, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. Ashok Baweja, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) chairman, accompanied Anthony.
Contracts will be inked with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms export agency, in the next two months, a senior Indian Defence Ministry official said.
The upgrades under the deal, worth about $310 million, will be carried out on 46 Mi-8, 78 Mi-17 and 48 Mi-17 (IV) helicopters, an Indian Air Force official said.
According to the proposed deal, two of each of the three helicopter types will be upgraded in Russia, while Indian state-owned HAL will do the rest under license. The projected upgrade target is 36 helicopters each year at HAL.

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