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India to buy 16 MiG jets from Russia
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
AFP
MOSCOW: India is to buy 16 MiG-29K fighter jets from Russia under a deal agreed during this week's visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Moscow, the Izvestia newspaper said on Wednesday.
The jets are to be modified for use on aircraft carriers, the newspaper said, noting that India recently bought a Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.
The newspaper gave no details on the financial cost of the deal, or the timescale for delivery. However the RIA-Novosti quoted a senior MiG official, Mikhail Globenko, as saying the deal included the setting up of a centre in India for servicing the jets.
The fighter jets will be an updated version of MiG fighter jets Russia previously supplied to India, the news agency said.
The Indian and Russian delegations signed a key agreement during Singh's visit on protection of intellectual property rights in the defence sector as India starts to build arms using Russian technology.
India and Russia have increasingly been developing joint defence projects, with some production already carried out in India under licence, including building of Su-30 MKI fighter jets and T-90 tanks.
The two countries are jointly building BrahMos anti-ship missiles, while their militaries held joint exercises in the Indian state of Rajasthan in October.
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