Hi,

Source

Moscow: India and Russia on Monday signed a an agreement for co-development and co-production of a new transport aircraft to replace the aging AN-32 fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The total investment for the project will be $600 million to be shared on 50:50-basis by both the countries.

The Russian contribution of $300 million would be paid out of the debt India owes to Russia under the rouble-rupee agreement. The envisaged requirement is 100 aircraft for the Russian Air Force and 45 for the IAF. As per the agreement, the two countries plans to sell 60 aircraft to third countries.

The project will be a joint collaboration between Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Rosenbroexport Agency of Russia.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow.

This inter-governmental agreement was quite similar to the one signed during Defence Minister A K Antony's visit to Russia during which the two countries signed an agreement for the joint development and production of fifth generation fighter aircraft, official sources said.

The development and certification of the new aircraft would be completed in six years. There are a total of 240 AN-32 aircraft in service all over the world of which the IAF has 70.

Peace
-=SF_13=-

Still stand by what I said they bite off more then they can chew.

I respect the India AF a lot and do like the MKI Flankers.
Mig-29 upgrade sadly drag on for ever and still really not sure it's being done.
Same thing with the Mirage 2000s still really not sure it's being done.
There light aircraft project going nowhere and years late.
Waited to long to upgrade the Mig-21 to Mig-21/93, two and three more years of crashes because a decision couldn't be made.
I do like upgrading the Mig-27s makes sense keep the homemade low cost attack jet but again the latest upgrades seem to be going slow. I think about 60 to 80 please correct me if you know better.
There homemade helicopter India made themselves there own forces aren't pleased with just not enough power.
AWACS - doing well
Navy - doing well, carrier a little slow but like the Mig-29Ks a lot
Missile program - doing well
Current fighter purchase? what five years and nothing yet I'm not off base they can't seem to lock in. Think about how fighter prices jump up alone in the last three years.
From the top down need a little shaken and still not sure how much the government is at fault. We all know they can slow down or mess up any project.