New Delhi, September 09, 2005 (PTI)

A joint venture company of Indian and Russian defence firms has been set to resolve the long-standing problem of shortage of spares for maintenance of Indian naval assets, a high-level Russian military delegation today said.

In a presentation before the Defence Ministry and the Indian Navy, a 20-member defence delegation informed them that the joint venture firm, Rosoboronservice (India), would create a bonded warehouse in Mumbai for spares and maintain the Indian naval assets of Russian origin.

Almost the entire range of naval assets like surface vessels, submarines, missile systems and aircraft of the Indian Navy would be taken care of by the JV, they said.

Earlier talking to reporters, chief of the delegation Maj Gen V Dzirkaln, Deputy Director of Russian firm 'FS MTS', said the Rosoboronservice within a few months would also take responsibility for the Soviet or Russian origin assets of the Indian Air Force.

The Rosoboronservice (India), they said, would become a "one-stop shop" for all after-sales service, repair, maintenance, upgrade and training needs of all assets of Indian Navy of Russian origin.

The problem had become acute following disintegration of the Soviet Union with the armed forces having to negotiate with scores of different companies for supply of spares or maintenance. At times, this had also affected the battle- worthiness of certain equipment of the Indian armed forces.

The Indian firm, with which eight Russian companies have created the JV firm, is Mumbai-based Krasny Marine Services.