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Russia proposes joint aircraft-repair venture with India

MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti, Valery Yarmolenko) - Russia has made another step toward continuing its long traditions of military cooperation with India with a proposal to establish a joint venture to carry out aircraft repairs, a senior official from Russia's main defense industry exporter said Friday.

"We have proposed a new project to establish a joint Russian-Indian venture to conduct aircraft repairs in India," Rosoboronexport Deputy General Director Viktor Komardin said, although he added it was too early to divulge any details.

He also said the Russian exhibit at the four-day Defexpo India 2006 arms show, which ends February 3, was attracting a great deal of interest among other participants and visitors, including India's top military officials.

Speaking ahead of the exhibition, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, the deputy director of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, said that Russia, which has 350 items on show, expected to conclude specific agreements with India on joint projects, thereby continuing the long history of military cooperation.

The two countries, whose interaction in the military sphere goes back almost half a century, are currently working on contracts worth $10 billion. Notable deals in recent years include a contract for the modernization and sale of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier and deals on Sukhoi fighters and the T-90 battle tank.

Komardin said that Russia's goal was to preserve its dominant position on the Indian market in the tough battle with foreign manufacturers on global arms markets.