India and Russia to discuss Fighter Aircraft deal during President Putin's visit

New Delhi: In a bid to iron out differences on the much delayed joint multi-billion dollar Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project, India and Russia will hold talks on Tuesday.

The move comes ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in India on Wednesday. However, sources said that it is “unlikely” that the contract would be signed during Mr Putin’s visit. Currently, the final design and research and development contracts are under negotiation.

The preliminary design agreement on FGFA had been signed in 2010. Though India is investing 50 per cent of the cost of the multi-billion dollar programme, its work share in the research and development has come down to around 13 per cent, something which Indian officials are not happy about. The project is based on Russian Air Force’s Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA platform.