FIFTH-GENERATION FIGHTER AIRCRAFT (FGFA)

Russia is hopeful that another big ticket agreement on FGFA will be inked by year-end.Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation, has said: “The agreement had been completed on our end, we are ready to sign it. It is now up to the Indian side. There are some formalities to be completed, but I think it will be signed by the end of this year.” After a gap of about a year, India and Russia had in February 2016 revived talks on the much delayed FGFA project after a clearance from Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Since then, a lot of issues related to work share, intellectual property rights, technology transfer and monetary commitments have been sorted out between the two sides. Under the new offer, India will have to pay

about $3.7 billion, instead of $6 billion, for the technological know-how and three prototypes of the aircraft.