Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India, Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu will arrive in New Delhi on January 21 to meet his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar.
During his two-day visit, the Russian defence minister will be meeting Parrikar under a mechanism that was recently created for top-level India-Russia meetings. The two ministers will conduct the 15th meeting of the Russian-Indian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation where they will discuss the fifth generation fighter aircraft, multi-transport aircraft, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The two leaders will also discuss the offers made during Russian President Vladmir Putin’s visit to India in December 2014, on producing the ‘Kamov’ military helicopters in India under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
With the Rafale fighter jet deal not reaching fruition India is possibly looking for additional Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft from Russia as a replacement.
India and Russia are the largest partners in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC)—with over 70% of weapons and military equipment used by the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy made in Russia.