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Russia and India Make Planes Together
During Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia, an agreement will be signed on the creation of a new transport plane. Both sides will invest $300 million in the project, but Russia's share will be financed from India's rupee debt to Russia. Director of the Russian Federal Military-technical Cooperation Service Mikhail Dmitriev and Indian Ambassador to Russia Prabhat Shukla signed an agreement to that effect yesterday. That agreement will allow the Indian company HAL and Rosoboronexport to sign a contract on the project by the end of the year.
An experimental version of the MTA (Multirole Transport Aircraft) will be created based on the Il-214. It will replace the Soviet An-12 and American C-30 with a payload of up to 20 tons. The experimental aircraft is to be ready by 2012 and it should be certified the next year.
India's so-called rupee debt dates back to Soviet times and is worth $2.06 billion (81.4 billion rupees). India will pay it off by 2037 through deposits into the account of Vneshekonombank at the Indian Reserve Bank. The Ilyushin and Irkut corporations will be involved in the new project. The Russian Air Force will eventually buy 45 of the planes, and the Indian Air Force will buy 100. Ilyushin estimates that there will be a total demand for 400 of the aircraft worldwide.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 13, 2007
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