Defence Secretary leads team to Russia

Adelegation representing all three armed services and led by Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur will be on an official visit to Moscow, to review bilateral defence projects and speed up decisions. The meeting comes a few days after the Indian Navy’s worst ever disaster — the sinking of the INS Sindhurakshak, which claimed the lives of 18 personnel.

While Russia has offered to assist in the investigation, given that the platform recently returned from a three-year refit in the country, other issues on the table will include the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), which has recently stirred controversy with HAL signalling that it will surrender 30 per cent work- share given to it as a result of capacity burdens, the Vikramaditya and the multirole transport aircraft.