India, Russia sign 'mother of all deals' to build next generation fighters

India and Russia signed on Tuesday the world’s biggest defence deal, worth $30 billion, for fifth-generation fighter aircraft. In fact, New Delhi released $295 million towards the design contract.
The Indo-Russian aircraft, termed perspective multi-role fighters (PMFs), will be developed and manufactured jointly by Russian firms Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi and Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the air forces of the two countries.
Between 2020 and 2030, 250 fighters are expected to be delivered.
The basic structural and system design of the fighters will be the same as those of the Russian fifth-generation fighters. A few modifications, though, will be made to meet the requirements of the Indian Air Force.
The fighters will have advanced features such as stealth, super-cruise, ultra-manoeuvrability, highly integrated avionics suites, enhanced situational awareness, internal carriage of weapons, and network-centric warfare capabilities.
As per the agreement, the workload will be shared by India and Russia, with 40 scientists from the two countries working on the project.
The cost of the initial contract is $11 billion, which will be borne equally by India and Russia. It includes the cost of flight testing, infrastructure, design and development. The final cost of each aircraft would be $100 million.
Another joint venture between Russian UAC and Rosoboronexport and India's HAL to develop and co-produce multi-role transport aircraft was registered on Tuesday, so that design work for the aircraft could begin.
The deal to manufacture 250 transport aircraft is worth approximately Rs2,900 crore. Indian and Russian officials also made progress in talks to sign a contract to upgrade the IAF's existing Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft.