The Rosoboronexport arms dealer secured $110 million in new contracts with
India on Wednesday at the first day of the Aero India 2001 air show in
Bangalore, Interfax reported. Rosoboronexport signed a $100 million contract
to deliver 10 more Ka-31 maritime warfare helicopters for the Indian navy
and announced it had won a $10 million tender to test a jet engine for
India's Light Combat Aircraft fighter. Russia also offered to help India
develop its delay-plagued Light Combat Aircraft program. Russian air force
chief Anatoly Kornukov told reporters in Bangalore that negotiations are
under way with the Indian navy to lease four used Tu-22 long-range bombers,
Interfax said. The Indian navy is also in talks to acquire the Admiral
Gorshkov aircraft carrier and up to 60 MiG-29K fighters and 300 T-90 tanks,
according to the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. The
carrier, jets and tanks would come with a price tag of more than $2.2
billion, the center said.
India's HAL signs two pacts with global aviation firms
BANGALORE, India, Feb 8 (AFP) - 15:06 GMT - India's largest aircraft maker,
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), said Thursday it had signed two deals with
foreign firms to manufacture engines for jet trainers and to build a
transport aircraft.
HAL chief C.G. Krishnadas Nair said the company had entered into a pact with
the French aerospace company Snecma for its Larzac engines to power the
intermediate jet trainers.
"We have also signed another deal with a Russian consortium of Ilyshun and
Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association for 100-seater transport aircraft,"
Nair told AFP.
The intermediate trainers will replace the Indian Air Force's existing Kiran
aircraft.
"The first prototype will fly next year and it will be inducted by the
Indian Air Force by 2005. The IAF has placed an order for 225 such trainers
but we are looking for some more partners for other components and systems,"
Nair said.
He said the trainers would be 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper than those
available in the global market.
The HAL chief said his company had also signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Russian consortium for 100-seater transport aircraft.
"The aviation market in Asia is set for a boom this decade. China and India
account for 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent of the global travel market. With a
small increase in the gross domestic product we see a substantial spurt in
this sector," Nair said.