India signs Rs 5,800-cr deal to buy 80 copters from Russia

In the biggest defence deal with Russia in recent times, India will spend a whopping Rs 5,841 crore to procure 80 Mi 17 V 5 medium lift helicopters...

In the biggest defence deal with Russia in recent times, India will spend a whopping Rs 5,841 crore to procure 80 Mi 17 V 5 medium lift helicopters to boost the existing chopper fleet of the Air Force. The deal, which includes spare parts and armaments for the helicopters, also includes offset obligations worth US$400 million.

Under the contract, the Russian Rosoboronexport organisation will manufacture and export 80 helicopters to India. They will be delivered between 2010 and 2014. The helicopters will replace the ageing Mi 17 helicopters in service with the and will be IAF used to transport supplies to crucial areas, including the Siachen glacier.

The deal comes at a time when defence ties between the countries are at a low due to differences over the price of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier and escalations in the costs of Su 30 MKI fighters. There are also pending issues about the transfer of technology of the T 90 tanks now being manufactured in India.

After the recent accident of the Nerpa Akula II nuclear attack submarine, the Russian media had carried reports quoting defence officials that the submarine would not be leased to India due to price issues.

However, indicating that plans to lease the submarine to India were on track, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that he had talked with his counterparts in India about several technologies including “developing and leasing of nuclear powered submarines”.

“We talked about technologies, including T-90 tanks, developing and leasing of nuclear powered submarines. (There were problems but) We have identified ways to resolve them. Very few of them (outstanding issues) need to be resolved. We need to adjust them,” he said.

The two sides also discussed the need of maturing from a buyer-seller relationship to joint development of platforms. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasised on the need of “further strengthening of defence joint production and development”.