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Russia, China to strengthen ties in military aircraft production
RIA
Novosti
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
Russia and China are set to boost cooperation in
the sphere of combat aircraft production, the director general
of Russia's Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer said on Wednesday.
"China is one of the main customers for our [Russian] aircraft
and today the Chinese Air Force has in service over 200 of our
Su-27 Flanker and Su-30 Flanker-C jet fighters," Mikhail
Pogosyan said.
Pogosyan is on a visit to China with Russia's Defense Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov and is attending the 13th session of the Russian-Chinese
mixed commission on military and technical cooperation.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
Pogosyan said that the commission is set to discuss the further
development of cooperation in the sphere of aircraft production
and particularly the licensed production of Su-27 and Su-30 planes
in China.
China has acquired 76 Su-27SK fighters from Russia since 1992,
and bought a license for production of another 200 planes in 1995,
in a deal worth $2.5 billion. However, the 1995 agreement did
not include the transfer of avionics and AL-31F turbofan engine
technology, and the Chinese manufacturers had to rely on the Russian
supply of these systems.
Pogosyan also told Chinese journalists that Russia would soon
sign a contract with India to jointly develop and produce a fifth-generation
jet fighter.
"We plan to begin flight tests [of the fighter] as early
as in 2009," he said.
The Russian-Indian advanced multirole fighter is being developed
by Sukhoi, which is part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation
(UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL),
under a preliminary intergovernmental agreement signed in October
2007.
Russia and India will simultaneously develop two versions of
the combat aircraft - a two-seat version to meet the requirements
of India's air superiority policy, and a single-seat version for
the Russian Air Force.
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