Russia, India developing multi-role military-transport aircraft

BANGALORE, February 18. /TASS/. BANGALORE, February 18. /TASS/. Russia and India are developing an advanced joint multi-role transport aircraft (MTA), the head of the Russian delegation at 10th international aviation and space exhibition Aero India 2015 told journalists in Bangalore on Wednesday. "During the fulfillment of the project on the joint development of the multi-role transport aircraft, the Russian and Indian engineers completed the aircraft’s design feasibility phase," Anatoly Punchuk said. The results of the aircraft’s preliminary design study are "in the final stage of being assessed by India’s Air Force," said Punchuk, who is deputy head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS). Russia and India plan to agree on a pre-contract documentation on the joint development of the multi-role transport aircraft in the third quarter of the year. The Indian side has presented several matters of technical nature which need to be solved in the first quarter of 2015, he told journalists at India’s main defence and civil-aviation event, which runs through February 20. The design works on the MTA program were successfully completed last year. The aircraft is being designed in accordance with the technical specifications approved by the defence ministries of Russia and India. Speaking on the delays in the program, the official said "the project of such a scale, which is being implemented in the conditions of an unprecedented cooperation between the two countries, demands significant efforts of both sides what cannot but affect the timeframe." Russia and India have been cooperating fruitfully in the military-technical sphere. Since 1960, Russia has supplied to India arms and military equipment worth about $40 billion, Punchuk said. Read more