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Russia on Monday offered its former Cold War ally India the chance to jointly develop weapon systems in a bid to remain New Delhi's main provider of arms. With India increasingly looking elsewhere for its armament needs, visiting Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov presented a deal in which India would develop military hardware alongside Russia, rather than buying it.
"Particular attention in this new programme will be paid to scientific research and joint development and construction," Serdyukov told reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony.
"In this agreement, concrete steps will be undertaken to achieve transition relations from vendor and buyer to partnership," Serdyukov said. Russia accounts for 70 percent of Indian military equipment, but late deliveries and commercial disagreements have pushed New Delhi towards other suppliers, including the United States, France, Britain and Israel.
In 2005, India signed a 10-year defence pact with the United States in "a clear indication that New Delhi is planning to broaden the base of its defence procurements," said analyst C. Uday Bhaskar. In March this year, New Delhi said it planned to buy six Hercules transport planes from Lockheed Martin for nearly one billion dollars, marking the country's biggest military aircraft deal with the United States. Though India's defence budget is just 2.3 percent of its gross domestic product, the country is one of the world's top buyers of military hardware.
Antony said Monday that both sides were close to resolving a protracted dispute over the cost of a Soviet-era aircraft carrier, which will now be sold at a higher price to the Indian navy in 2011.
The price escalation was due to "the scope of the refit and repairs, which have increased," Antony said, adding Russia had been "a trusted friend" of India for many years. Under existing deals, India will also buy 347 T-90 battle tanks from Russia and manufacture another 1,000 tanks with Russian help, Antony said. The two countries - which have defence projects worth 15 billion dollars in the pipeline - also agreed to extend a military co-operation agreement by another 10 years.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

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