After a preliminary agreement between India and Russia were signed in 2010, a final agreement on the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) was expected to be signed in July-August 2012, but got delayed as the Indian Air Force (IAF) did not approve the FGFA's single-seat design and also the work-share of 18%-82%, but now Russia has reportedly agreed on the 25%-75% work share between India & Russia, therefore the agreement is likely to be signed during Russian President V Putin's visit to India on December 10-11th. Also Russia has agreed on the two-seat demand of the IAF on the FGFA. The FGFA will have the BrahMos and the Indian-made Astra missiles.
The 200 FGFAs will be built at a cost of $30 billion.
Other agreements on the table are the MTA and BrahMos export.
The MTA, which will eventually replace the An-32, was signed in 2007, but negligible Indian participation in it has delayed the signing of the final agreement, also coupled with design, development and work-share problems, much like FGFA. The $600 million project for 205 planes(both for cargo & troop transportation) - 100 for the Russian Air Force, 45 for IAF and 60 more for exporting to friendly countries, was expected to fly by 2015, but has been delayed.
The international market for MTA is estimated at 390 planes. Under the agreement, thirty percent of the annual production of planes could be exported to third countries.
A BrahMos mini-missile agreement is expected to be signed during Putin's visit.The new missile will be half of the present missile in length, will have a speed of 3.5 mach, will be able to carry a payload of 300, upto a range of 290 kms, and can be integrated on submarines and the FGFA, and will be inducted into service in 2017. A tripartite agreement between DRDO, NPOM lab and BrahMos is expected to be signed during Putin's visit.
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