Moscow, August 16, 2005, Vinay Shukla, ZHUKOVSKY (PTI)

India and Russia today signed a USD 350-million deal for the joint development, production and marketing of a new aircraft engine for use on the indigeneous Intermediate Jet Trainers HJT-36 and HJT-39 The deal was signed by the Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Ashok Baweja, and Director General of Rosoboronexport State Corporation, Sergei Chemezov, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Ambassador to Moscow Kanwal Sibal and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, immediately after the inauguration of International Aerospace Show MAKS-2005 here.

Putin, who arrived here onboard special helicopter, immediately after formally inaugurating the air show went straight to the Rosoboronexport Chalet to bless the siging of the Indo-Russian deal with his presence, signaling the importance attached by the Kremlin to defence cooperation with New Delhi.

Under the general contract signed today, HAL will initially produce 250 AL-55I jet engines and would have right to indigenously produce 1,000 more. The inter-governmental agreement on licensed production of the engine is scheduled to be signed in New Delhi on August 18.

The Russian engine developed by NPO Saturn scientific-production enterprise is first of its kind to be serially produced in Russia and India, General Designer Alexander Sarkisov told PTI on the sideline of the air show. "It would replace French Larsac engines in 2008, currently being used in HJT-36 proto-types," Sarkisov said.

"The Indian side has chosen our engine as the result of a convincing victory over European manufacturers in the tender for engine project for the prospective HJT-36 and latest HJT-39 trainer jets developed by HAL for the Indian Air Force," he said.

According to Sarkisov, his NPO Saturn, which has developed unique thrust vectoring engines for India's Su-30MKI and MiG-29 fighters, "has built the new engine from a scratch." For the first time HAL has also opened its stall at the MAKS aerospace show displaying models of its Tejas LCA, HJT-36 and Dhruv advanced helicopter.