NEW DELHI, Dec 7 - RIA Novosti. More than 220 Su-30MKI fighters, about 900 T-90S and 1,500 T-72M1 tanks have been produced under license in India, Alexander Mikheev, Director General of Rosoboronexport, told reporters in India on Tuesday.
"The long-term cooperation with HAL Corporation continues on the licensed production of the most massive aircraft of the Indian Air Force – the Su-30MKI. Over 220 units have been produced here. In the interests of the country's ground forces in India, the HVF plant produces T-90 and T-72M1 tanks. About 900 T-90S and 1500 T-72M1 have already been produced. Mango shells are produced on the basis of artillery factories of the Ministry of Defense of India," Mikheev listed.
He stressed that India has always been and remains one of the key buyers of Russian equipment for decades. And the main principle of cooperation is based on the "Do in India" program announced by the Government of India and successfully implemented by the industry.
Rosoboronexport has been doing this work for a long time, and we really have something to be proud of. Russia is the first country to start large-scale cooperation with India in the format of technology transfer and organization of production of Russian-developed products at Indian enterprises," Mikheev said.
In addition, he noted, consultations are underway on the modernization of T-90 tanks. Preliminary tests of several upgraded systems installed on tanks allocated by the Indian side have been carried out.
"Now we are approaching the final tests, according to the results of which a decision will be made on the installation of upgraded systems on tanks. We are the only country that has such close and capacious ties with India in the scientific and technical field in the field of defense industry. Today we are conducting joint research on more than 100 promising topics, creating a huge reserve for the development of high-tech industry in both countries in the future," Mikheev said.