India and Russia will review their time-tested Defence and strategic ties besides exploring new avenues for joint ventures in weapon manufacturing during Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s three-day visit to Moscow starting Wednesday. Accompanied by a high-powered delegation, Jaitley will also co-chair Inter-governmental Commission on Military-Technical Co-operation, which looks after various ongoing weapon manufacturing projects.
The Commission is headed by the Defence Ministers of the two countries and the current meeting is the 17th in the last 10 years. Given the robust Defence relations between India and Russia and the Indian armed forces procuring Russian made systems for the last four decades, the Ministerial level Commission is an important mechanism to regularly take stock of the ongoing projects.
At present, India has nearly 70 per cent of its weapons inventory of Russian origin and recently inked a deal worth over one billion dollars to manufacture 200 Kamov light utility helicopters as part of Make of India policy. Moreover, the Government gave the nod for six S-400 Triumf air defence missile system built by Russia and this deal is nearly six billion dollars.
The mega deal indicates that India and Russia relations in Defence sector continue to grow. The two countries are also engaged in leasing of the second Russian nuclear powered submarine for a period of ten years for the Indian Navy. It already has one Russian made submarine INS Chakra on a lease.
Giving details of Jaitley’s visit, officials said here on Tuesday the Minister will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High level Committee on Science & Technology with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin on Wednesday.
This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Indian Defence Minister will also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.
Jaitley on Friday will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, General Sergei Shoigu. The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
The two sides are likely to discuss the progress made in the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) to be jointly developed and manufactured. Given the high cost involved which can go up to 20 billion dollars for 200 proposed jets, the Indians are carrying out the cost-benefit analysis, sources said.
The Indian delegation with Jaitley includes Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Secretary Defence Production AK Gupta, Defence Research and Development Organisation chief S Christopher and top military officials from the three Services.