After the 10th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) today in Delhi, Indian defence minister AK Antony said, “All the roadblocks are over and soon the FGFA contract will be signed. We will get 250-300 fighter aircraft. Within the next few months, the agreement will be signed. We have sorted out all issues and have found satisfactory agreements.”
Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov said, “We are looking forward to the joint creation of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) with our Indian colleagues. We have the design and other details. The draft of the contract has been handed over to the Indian side and is now under their consideration. Once the contract is signed, Sukhoi and HAL will work together.”
Here’s the full press statement that was issued at 16.12IST:
The Tenth Meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) was held here today. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony and the Russian Defence Minister Mr. AE Serdyukov headed the respective delegations. The Indian delegation included Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri RK Singh, Shri VK Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. The Russian delegation included representatives from the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Russian Defence Industry.
In his opening remarks at the IRIGC-MTC meeting, Shri Antony said that India values the strong and multifaceted friendship with Russia and noted that the defence relationship between both countries is based on convergent and complementary interests and has been mutually beneficial. He also observed that the bilateral defence cooperation with Russia is a comprehensive partnership, in which both countries have moved beyond the buyer-seller relationship and are collaborating in joint R&D and production of defence equipments and systems.
The Commission took note of the progress on several major projects since its last meeting, which was held in Moscow in October 2009. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the Shareholders Agreement for formation of a Joint Venture Company for the development and production of the Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). Further, both sides agreed to expedite modalities for the proposed project for the joint design, development and production of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).
“We have very good big plans and we have very serious projects and work before us. And this, as I said, will be a big challenge and we will try to do our best in order to prove that our bilateral cooperation can give us very good practical results,” said Mr. Serdyukov.
The Joint Commission also reviewed the status of several other ongoing and proposed projects, including the licenced production of T-90 Tanks and the establishment of the repair and overhaul facilities for various Russian origin defence equipment in India.
The IRIGC-MTC was established in 2000, with a view to further bilateral defence cooperation between India and Russia. Russia is the only country with which India has such an institutionalized mechanism at the level of the Defence Ministers of both sides, which highlights the strength and importance of the bilateral defence relationship. The Commission is supported by two Working groups – on Military Technical Cooperation and Shipbuilding, Aviation and Land Systems respectively and seven sub-groups.
The scope for military technical cooperation between both countries is defined through an umbrella inter-Governmental agreement; and Agreement on a long term programme for military and technical cooperation for the period 2011-2020 was signed during the visit of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Russia in December last year.
Prior to the IRIGC meeting today, both Defence Ministers also held separate discussions on various issues of regional and global security. Both Ministers agreed on the need to enhance interactions between the Armed Forces of both countries. Noting that a joint exercise between the Armies of both sides is due to be held in India this month, both Ministers also decided that a joint exercise between the Armed Forces would be held in Russia in 2011. The Russian Defence Minister also stated that the Chief of Defence Forces of Russia would visit India in November this year and that the Russian Navy Chief would visit in January 2011.
AWESOME! THE BEST NEWS I HAVE READ IN DAYS! CANT WAIT TO SEE THIS BIRD IN IAF COLOURS! AMAZING!!
The ultimate for our Air forces. Great development…
Awesome news, this deal will be "Grandmother of all defence" deals that India will have with Russia. Eagerly awaiting to see this bird in IAF asap. Jhakaas
will these 250-300 be the 1 seater version or 2 seater version?? any idea shiv…
@Pradeep: The single-seat version is called the PAK-FA. The joint development will be on the twin-seat version, designated FGFA for now. India will obviously buy a mix of both, though the exact numbers of each are not yet clear. Obviously, the Indian Air Force will induct mostly the twin-seat version.
Atlast one concrete news with no speculations like mmrca.
Is it that the two seat version offers any tactical advantage since russia is not going for it … and may be the second seat wil make the aircraft larger in size and so will compromise stealth
is it not the two seater will be larger in size so not tht stealth and also if russia is not going for two seat version why r we ?
is it not the two seater will be larger in size so not tht stealth and also if russia is not going for two seat version why r we ?
Perfect Birthday Gift to the IAF who is celebrating its Birthday Tommorow (8th Oct). Our Pilots will be more than pleased on hearing this great news:). Sad for our neighbours:(
Shiv, can you give us some mind blowing article on IAF tommorow on the occassion of its anniversary. Maybe an interesting story by a retd. IAF personnel? Consider this.
@Blaze,
Because the indian contribution to the JOINT project will be the second seat. Which will be imported from Great Britian. The good thing is India will finally be number 1 at something.
Best of all news..nothing comes as sweet as Russia 🙂
xact numbers: 250 total , 175 fgfa, pakfa 75
Do you think this will really kill off the LCA MKxxx?
Will Kavri be used to power this beast?
IAF prefers 2 seat aircraft since it believes the guy in the back seat should operate all the navigation, fire-control, countermeasures etc..leaving the pilot to focus on flying….this stems from the IAF Su-30 experience.
It is common for 'large' multi-role fighters to have this approach e.g. F-15E.
-Vishal
Bah. This is two years overdue. Granted, given the AK Antony MoD's track record on speedy decisions(or lack thereof) it was expected, but not signing the agreement back when the PAK-FA was in the design stage means that the design has been finalised without Indian input and now the Russians are developing all the components themselves, even the ones that were originally going to go to India like the fly-by-wire, navigation system, cockpit and mission computer.
What we are in fact getting is a minor workshare on a DERIVATIVE of the PAK-FA that will be developed only after the PAK-FA reaches IOC, which will take several years. Due to time and money constraints there cannot be any major variation in the Russian design, and in any case all the major components are already Russian and so we are effective shafted as far as developing our indigenous capability is concerned.
Perhaps it would have been better to just by the F-35 and go for an Israel-type deal for putting our own avionics on it.
this is the nail in d coffin for mig in mmrca, f16, f18 got naild with the engine n p8 deals, now gripen , rafele n eurofighter left… since the deal is political , usa done russia done europe left
qs to sa-
russia already developed,flown,tested these super jets.right??
how india will put herself in the so called developement and manufacture and joint(?) production with russia????
is it gonna be just a seller-buyer deal or codevelopement like brahmos or mrta?
this is all good and long term…what abt short term,,what happened to artlry how much more delays,,heard that cheen has 18000 piece of it vs our 400 odd,,,what is more important,,does anyone realize
Whatever the advanced technologies that India wished to be employed on the first version of PakFa/FGFA but could not get them employed, shall have all the parallel options to be employed on the AMCA or even in to the SU-30MKI or in to the superior versions of PakFa/FGFA.
One can only hope that this plan fares better than the one for CWG.
BBC headline on the matter:
7 October 2010 Last updated at 08:29 ET
"India to buy advanced fighter jets from Russia"
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11492777"
i must, however, caution you that bbc does not impress me as a neutral media (specially in recent days). plays lot of games in composing word and headlining.
– nanovacuum (US)
PAK-FA looks neat.. as of now the major stealth of PAK – FA is in the reduced RCS from the front… some tech guys in the IAF would like the twin engines covered similar to the F22 RAPTOR so as to further reduce the heat signatures and make it more stealthy.. also the underbelly of the PAK- FA needs a bit of stealth features like the F22 raptor ..
Source: RIA Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/news/20101007/160867582.html
"
The jointly-produced fifth generation fighter will not be a copy of the existing Sukhoi T-50 prototype ordered for the Russian Air Force, but will be a separate creation, a high-profile source in the Russian delegation in New Delhi said.
"
Shiv any idea what this is supposed to mean. Are we in for more twist in the story
I quite agree with the BBC's headline, "India to BUY advanced fighter jets from Russia"
Let's face it : there is nothing Indian-made in the FGFA thats worth mentioning. Radar, engine, weapon-systems, stealth design, airframe and avionics are all 100% Russian.
The oft-repeated mantra of Indian composites 'n' mission computers is stale and not qualified of call it a co-development. Because that's exactly what we've been doing on the Su-30 MKi for 10 years now (not that we're not proud of it). So, whom are we fooling ?
As though the gigantic Russian aviation industry don't know how to make composites or mission computers…..
lawl Like Abhid-D said India doesn't have much to gain from this 'development'. Comparing it to BrahMos is actually a fitting comparison because like this BrahMos also has over 70% imported Russian components with no ToT: Engine, radar seeker, missile segments, fuel etc. DRDO just contributed some guidance software in the so-called '50-50 joint venture'.
To think some people have the guts to insult the Indian private defence sector based on the fact that they partner up with foreign firms instead of developing 100% indigenous products from scrap.
Abhid-d/Gautam:
You guys got the idea.
DRDO, MoD, HAL, they are just milking the treasury and trying to full the population with such antiques as TOT, Joint Development/Venture blah, blah, blah… Think of the amount of insult they are putting on us.
Look at this deal. Safely north of $30 billion. (250 SU-30MKI @$100 mil each makes it $25 billion). Other than lacing the shoes, where is the build-up of military industrial capacity? How did we loose this opportunity?
Man, they got some money to burn.
– nanovacuum (US)
Gautam, the Indian private sector simply pushes foreign goods by disguising it as a JV between itself and some Israeli/French/US firm. They buy the goods (or produce it under licence in India), and stick their own sticker on it before hawking it to the Indian Armed Forces.
And Err…Gautam, while what you said about Brahmos is true, its also true that DRDO's guidance and telemetry software on the Brahmos is NO mean achievement either.
Anonymous @8:01, DRDO is NOT the partner in the FGFA project. HAL is.
DRDO is making its own AMCA, which is what I think the IAF must procure, instead of more Russian junk (PAK-FA seems like just a souped up Flanker).