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30 Aug 14 - 02:27 PM (#3655305) Subject: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw "I do think it's important to keep perspective. Russia doesn't make anything," Obama said in the interview. Wrong The 2013 annual report released by the Russian helicopter manufacturer Rostvertol has revealed the number of Mi-28 attack helicopters that have been ordered by Iraq. It was announced in October 2012 that Iraq had ordered Mi-28s, but the precise number has never been revealed, with the Russian media reporting that the deal covers the delivery of over 40 aircraft, including Mi-35 combat helicopters as well as Mi-28s. The Rostvertol report lists two foreign contracts for the Mi-28 but only provides numbers rather than names for the countries involved. It says country '012' is buying 42 Mi-28NEs and six Mi-26T2 transports under a contract agreed on 26 June 2013. Read More BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has received Russian Mi-28 attack helicopters and will use them against militants who have overrun large parts of the country, the defence ministry said on Saturday. A ministry statement did not specify how many of the heavily armoured two-seat gunships it has received or what it paid for them. But a video posted on its website showed a hangar containing multiple desert camouflage-painted Mi-28s, which are capable of all-weather and day and night operation. Militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group launched a major offensive in June, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside and overrunning most of the country's Sunni heartland. Read More |
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30 Aug 14 - 05:01 PM (#3655352) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Greg F. Go home, SlawSaw. |
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30 Aug 14 - 05:42 PM (#3655357) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude Ever have their vodka. It is dirty and like bath water. Yuk |
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30 Aug 14 - 06:08 PM (#3655363) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket Must have been someone else's vodka then. Had some seriously good vodka in Moscow. (Had some serious paint stripper in St Petersburg mind...) |
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30 Aug 14 - 07:25 PM (#3655368) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: gnu Saying Russia can't make good vodka is like saying USA can't make good beer. |
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30 Aug 14 - 07:26 PM (#3655369) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Ed T There are some premium Russian vodkas that are very smooth (like Putin in a news conference). I suspect they make a lot that may not be exported to every country, and some things for domestic consumption.Their armaments seem popular. Some of their geeks do a good job at making their way (aka hacking) into computers. |
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30 Aug 14 - 08:38 PM (#3655384) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude Had some myself In Moscow.. Gasoline, dirty terrible. I suspect today it is much better |
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30 Aug 14 - 08:39 PM (#3655385) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude And gnu us yanks can't make beer. Sam Adams is about a close to beer |
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30 Aug 14 - 08:41 PM (#3655386) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude Cold War era Russian vodka terrible I think give me a name to try today I believe you its good |
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30 Aug 14 - 09:39 PM (#3655396) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Don Firth A number of good ballet dancers and composers. And Dmitri Hvorostovski is one helluva singer. Don Firth |
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30 Aug 14 - 10:11 PM (#3655398) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw ZHUKOVSKY (Moscow Region), August 14 (RIA Novosti) – The Pentagon is insisting on the purchase of Russian helicopters for Afghanistan regardless of US Congress protests, the delegation head of Russia's arms exporter Rosoboronexport told RIA Novosti on Thursday. "Regardless of [US] congressmen's protests, different types of substitution, switching over to US production, the American military in the Pentagon are persistently insisting on purchasing Russian helicopters," Igor Sevastianov said at an international arms exhibition in the Moscow Region. Russia earlier signed three contracts with the Pentagon on the delivery of more than 70 Mi-17B5 "Hip" transport helicopters for the Afghan Army. More here |
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30 Aug 14 - 10:20 PM (#3655399) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Ed T USA immigrant, Igor Sikorsky, (Sikorshy Helicopters) was born in Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire. |
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30 Aug 14 - 10:23 PM (#3655401) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw "Immigrants aren't rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity." WRONG Russia is widely acknowledged to be the world's second most popular destination for immigrants after the United States |
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30 Aug 14 - 11:14 PM (#3655409) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Don Firth So? Don Firth |
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30 Aug 14 - 11:33 PM (#3655413) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw 'The life expectancy of the Russian male is around 60 years old.' WRONG it is 63. WRONG the average male life expectancy in Russia was a little bit above 65 |
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31 Aug 14 - 12:28 AM (#3655419) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude They make a lot of beautiful women |
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31 Aug 14 - 12:40 AM (#3655422) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Bill D Hey! Get yer statistics here!~ Red hot statistics, accurate and otherwise. Amuse yer friends, confound yer enemies with statistics on almost anything! With every gross of statistics, a free copy of "How To Lie with Statistics" send $14.95 to 666 Fuzzy Math Center Peristroika, Conn. allow...oh.. a few months while we make up some clever numbers to fit yer needs. |
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31 Aug 14 - 01:48 AM (#3655430) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor olddude: Ever have their vodka. It is dirty and like bath water. Yuk You couldn't be more wrong. Yes, there's some cheap bottom-end-of-the-market vodka that's quite poor, but there are at least dozens, probably hundreds, of brands that are excellent, and far superior to any vodka originating in the USA, Finland etc. Brands that are "standard but good"over here (ie you'll find them in most shops) include: Five Lakes (Pyat Ozer); husky (xackи)and Parliament. One that you might find in the US is Zyr. gnu: Saying Russia can't make good vodka is like saying USA can't make good beer. Not exactly, because, apart from a few micro-breweries, the USA *can't* make good beer. The main brands are all gnat's piss, unlike many of the mainstream Russian vodka brands, which on average are pretty good. "Immigrants aren't rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity." Actually, over here on Sakhalin we have a fair number of US, Australian, Irish and British people. Most are on rotating terms, but probably 25% are living here full time, many with local spouses and families. My daughter found an opportunity in Moscow to work as a journalist that she'd never have had in UK or the USA and is pretty well settled there, on a very good salary for a 25 year old, and good prospects. She has loads of western friends who've immigrated there and "found opportunity". |
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31 Aug 14 - 03:42 AM (#3655443) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket Out of interest Gnu, America may make the odd good beer, and I have found some good microbreweries, but the weaselpiss marketed over here as the taste of America has more impact as a marketing word than anything anybody actually drinks... That said, a well known "Russian" vodka is made in a factory just outside Milton Keynes, so might be interesting to see how that works if we increase sanctions! |
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31 Aug 14 - 04:47 AM (#3655453) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Roger the Skiffler Sadly, the best known Russian export is the Kalashnikov rifle. RtS |
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31 Aug 14 - 05:16 AM (#3655460) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket Мы не делаем ничего . Мы берем то, что мы хотим . |
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31 Aug 14 - 10:39 AM (#3655532) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Stilly River Sage Some of the U.S. beers need a second look. Shiner from Texas used to be a crap beer, but then they got smart and have turned out some nice reasonably priced varieties. It has actual flavor, compared to the Bud/Coors/Millers of the American beer landscape. This is a company in an area with lots of German immigrants so I suspect they turned to their old world contacts for guidance. Russian food isn't as widespread in Texas a Czech and other European immigrant groups, but there is one small restaurant in town that is so popular that every September they close the storefront location and sell food at the State Fair of Texas. Perhaps diplomacy should start at the dinner table, appreciating good food and drinks. SRS |
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31 Aug 14 - 11:45 AM (#3655552) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: GUEST,Rahere Aw, don't rise to him, he's never posted anything on the Folk world, he's just a BSer. In any case, Russia makes me laugh, and sometimes cry, and occasionally swear in fury. If we didn't have them we'd have to invent them. |
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31 Aug 14 - 12:12 PM (#3655561) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Q (Frank Staplin) Canadian vodkas are varied, some excellent. Banff Ice, Eight Below (a grain vodka), Iceberg. Banff Ice a bargain (grain vodka), Eight Below (grain) expensive but no better. Prince Edward Potato good. Those mass-produced by the large Canadian distillers are 'ugh." |
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31 Aug 14 - 12:32 PM (#3655569) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Ed T Humerous Russian Vodka review |
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31 Aug 14 - 12:39 PM (#3655572) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw "Immigrants aren't rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity." Really? The Telegraph UK A vast (The official figure for Moscow currently stands at 11.5 million) influx of migrants, legal and illegal, has defeated attempts to keep track of numbers in Russia's capital Moscow - Europe's biggest city. Radio Free Europe "It is due to such conditions that only 2 million of Russia's estimated 10 million-12 million migrant laborers, most of them from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, work in the country legally. The rest subsist in the shadow economy." |
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31 Aug 14 - 01:36 PM (#3655590) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Don Firth Some years ago there was an authentic Russian restaurant in Seattle called the "Moscow Café." One evening after a party a few friends and I dropped in for a snack. For some reason, my throat was really dry, so I asked the proprietor, who was also our waiter, for a glass of water. He came back a few moments later with a vodka bottle and a tall glass. He whispered to me, "This is water," indicating the Vodka bottle. "Let's play a little trick on the other patrons." He made a great show of holding up the glass and slowly pouring it full from the bottle. Then he handed it to me. I was really thirsty, so I downed the full glass with one, long guzzle, wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and thanked the waiter, who refilled my glass from the bottle, winked, and wandered off. For the rest of the evening, the other patrons sat there surreptitiously watching me, waiting for me to topple off my chair. But no— Pretty funny. Don Firth |
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31 Aug 14 - 01:52 PM (#3655596) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude I look forward to trying the brands you suggested |
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31 Aug 14 - 04:24 PM (#3655644) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Q (Frank Staplin) BEER? Dos Equis. In Calgary, one of the Big Rock beers or ales, or the products of one of the microbreweries here. In Europe, I liked the Czech beers. |
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31 Aug 14 - 04:45 PM (#3655652) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Big Al Whittle 'Russia doesn't make anything' He's perhaps confusing Russia with England, Americans are a bit shaky on geography. Since Thatcher we haven't made very much. |
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31 Aug 14 - 08:32 PM (#3655691) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor Big Al: Strange, most of the earth-moving and construction equipment I see around me here on Sakhalin is made by JCB! The sanitary ware in most of the hotels is Armitage Shanks or Ideal Standard. And many of the pumps out here on oil and gas facilities are mader by Goulds Pumps, Axminster. OK, it's now American-owned, but they still manufacture in UK. Almost all the survey vessels I work with both here and globally use Integrated Navigation Systems (SPECTRA, SPRINT, ORCA) made by Concept Systems in Leith, which as a small startup around 35 years ago supplanted the then-ubiquitous Magnavox in the US within about 10 years. The same company produces an integrated ice-observing, tracking and analysis package which is a world-leader, despite UK seas being remarkably ice-free year-round. All our reporting software is UK-produced, as are many of the other software systems in our industry. Yes, heavy manufacturing is in serious decline, but we still make a fair bit of stuff.....and maybe we'd have still been making more if people (managers AND workers) had been more interested in improving quality control, work processes and getting rid of "old Spanish practices" in the workplace in the 60s and 70s. I remember at school when a lot of the upper 6th rode their motorbikes in, the head designated one shed only for British bikes as they all pissed oil when parked, whereas the tarmac under the Japanese bikes was clean as a whistle. |
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31 Aug 14 - 08:45 PM (#3655693) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor Just checked and until sanctions, 25% of construction/ earth moving machines in the Russia Federation were supplied by JCB. This is a massive country and they use a LOT of earth-moving gear, so I expect JCB is quite worried. |
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31 Aug 14 - 10:27 PM (#3655706) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Big Al Whittle Hmmm.....there was a bikers convention in our village today. there was a Harley, a Goldwing - all the rest were rubbish England Triumphs, and there was one Royal Enfield. no oil patches in evidence - and of course that was one industry flung away in wild abandon by the tories. like so many others. I worked for British Leyland. I Saw no evidence of spanish practices, but I did see an an early computer that couldn't deal with the task of stock control. working men trying hard to make a living using 60 year old track. a profitable deal selling buses to Cuba going west because nobody spoke Spanish....in other words management defects on a massive scale. |
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01 Sep 14 - 12:16 AM (#3655714) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor As far as I can see the motorcycle industry in UK was in continual decline from the early 50s to the late 70s, through governments of both stripes. In fact it was Wilson's Labour government, IIRC, that ended the subsidies to the industry. Crap management and failure to update production lines was one problem, but there were also issues such as the government-backed NVT merger when they then refused to let the management of the newly merged group to close down one of the sites, after the workers went on strike, with partly assembled bikes being left to rust during the blockade. But then in the UK it seems that many people from a shop-floor background have a knee-jerk reaction of blaming every industrial problem on "crap management" and "the tories" while people from management backgrounds are just as quick to blame "militant and backward-looking workers". Having been brought up in the Yorkshire woolen district, what I see looking back was a lot of blame on BOTH sides. A couple of factories I worked in as a student were rife with "spanish practices", and the white collar and blue collar staff both often seemed more intent on getting one over on each other than with working together to produce good quality products at a price that would sell well and secure jobs, wages and profits. |
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01 Sep 14 - 02:10 AM (#3655732) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket Manufacturing is nothing to what it was. Hardly any of the customers we had and I visited exist any more. Mainly heavy engineering, steel production and process manufacturing. That said, it does still represent over 10% of GDP, and if you allow for the skewing of raw figures by the huge money market income for the treasury, it represents over 35% of all jobs. Al's memories of British Leyland are a lesson we tried to learn from. Interesting that successful manufacturing processes such as LEAN and other six sigma approaches originated in the vehicle construction industry. When I left "industry" and started interfering in The NHS, it was learning from the likes of Toyota and Unipart that allowed some new thinking and releasing millions from bureaucracy for patient care. I lament the demise of large employer industry as job creation has to be in any game plan by my thinking, but to dismiss the contribution the sector still delivers is not fair. |
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01 Sep 14 - 02:35 AM (#3655736) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: olddude Feel free to take back that prat gordon Ramsey also. For fuck sake he must have a dozen shows here |
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01 Sep 14 - 09:16 AM (#3655810) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Big Al Whittle yes Ramsey is very irritating. he works the same formula to death. the late Keith Floyd said, yes - hes quite good, as a pastry chef.... One lovely memory i had of Leyland....they'd flogged all these buses to Castro, over in Cuba. And LEyland was REALLY shit when it came to sending people spare parts - i had a request from one bloke in south africa who had been waiting seven years for a bit for his dumper truck. anyway it wasn't long before the Cubans started phoning up - wanting bits and pieces for their buses. trouble is, they couldn't speak English - and we couldn't speak Spanish. Finally they got this posh bloke to answer the phone - they gave him the job because his parents had a villa in Marbella - an uncommon thingin 1970. it transpires that his Spanish is real Leonard Rossiter stuff- uno bianco Senor! the phone calls continued..... |
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01 Sep 14 - 09:36 AM (#3655816) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker The Russian made Big Muff Pi fuzzboxes from the 1990s are legendary. |
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01 Sep 14 - 10:05 AM (#3655822) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Stu "Feel free to take back that prat gordon Ramsey also" Sod that. We don't want that gobshite back. I've drunks some superb beer in the US, there are some superb microbreweries making excellent beer. As for Budweiser and other crap, that's just undrinkable pish. Like the Carling and smooth flow we have here. |
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01 Sep 14 - 11:49 AM (#3655855) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket The one mass produced American beer that I like (though of course I haven't tried them all yet) is Sam Adams. I have found some excellent microbreweries, especially in ski areas. At Jackson Hole in Wyoming, I got rather addicted to the beer made on the premises at The Mangy Moose called Moose Drool. (Also got to jam with The Clumsy Lovers who were booked for the week...) I used to travel to Russia quite often, even before the collapse of The USSR and can say with confidence that if you see Guinness, stick to it..... |
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01 Sep 14 - 09:13 PM (#3655982) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor Musket: Actually, there are a couple of decent Russian brewed beers now. Where I am on Sakhalin there's Zhigulevskoye (Жигулёвское). This USED to be the "generic" Soviet beer and back in your day was probably pretty bland. However, the version they make at the brewery here in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is a modern recipe and actually excellent, for a lager. I think you can only get it here though. There's also Baltika 6 Porter, if you're into the dark stuff, which is quite nice, and Vasileostrovskaye Triple Wheat from St Petersburg, which is very tasty. Mostly it's Baltika 3 or 7 or Zolotaya Botchka that's readily available everywhere, at least out here in the Russian far east, with Siberian Crown on draft in some places. They're drinkable but nothing to write home about. |
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01 Sep 14 - 09:50 PM (#3655987) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker Sovtek guitar amp valves |
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02 Sep 14 - 03:21 AM (#3656019) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket Fairs fair Rob. I haven't been since 2002. Togliatti via Moscow being the particular business trip. If there are decent beers now, good. I used to travel all over on business and Russia did stand out as being a place with bad beer. (New Zealand was somewhere to stick to wine for that matter.) |
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02 Sep 14 - 12:02 PM (#3656141) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: bubblyrat I believe that the tanks they made performed well at the Battle of Kursk. The "Sturmovic" ground-attack aircraft is considered by many to be the best of WW2 . As for the present, I like the strength and ruggedness of Baikal shotguns.Then there are Russian wrist-watches (not bad either ) .....On the down side though, we once owned a Lada Estate car ...never again !! |
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02 Sep 14 - 03:53 PM (#3656223) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Ed T An articl on the Russian optics industry and how it evolved: On Russian Optics |
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02 Sep 14 - 11:41 PM (#3656327) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Mrrzy Besides vodka, I can think of the following: Roulette. Dressing. Mountains, if you believe the French, and Charlotte, while we're there. A type of sleep, per Larry Niven. Chauffeurs named Pikop Andropov... |
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03 Sep 14 - 12:40 AM (#3656332) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: LadyJean At present Russia makes a lot of trouble. Vodka is good for stripping varnish, but I wouldn't call it potable. Sam Adams Beer is pretty good, ditto Rolling Rock says the proud and loyal daughter or Western Pennsylvania. |
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03 Sep 14 - 02:17 AM (#3656337) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Big Al Whittle Steve Tilston used to have this advert - Have Lada, will travel..... And I thought - wow that is SO cool! so I bought a Lada too....thanks Steve! |
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03 Sep 14 - 04:28 AM (#3656369) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Musket You worked for British Leyland You bought a Lada You don't quite get this car thing, do you Al? |
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03 Sep 14 - 06:01 AM (#3656394) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Stu "You don't quite get this car thing, do you Al?" I'd say he has spot on. I have one (a Skoda), but cars are bloody awful things, and I can't see why people love them so much. I would have a Morris Traveller though if I ever have any bunce. |
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03 Sep 14 - 07:04 AM (#3656418) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: bubblyrat My other half's father had a 1908 12-litre Itala (AND a De Lage) ,but they've been sold ,sadly !! Oh ,and yes,;he DID race (and win) at Prescott ). |
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03 Sep 14 - 11:39 PM (#3656772) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Rob Naylor Never see Ladas out here on Sakhalin. Vehicle of choice here is the Toyota Land Cruiser, with extra big wheels. Most of them come from Japan and are right hand drive....which would OK in Japan or UK, but here they drive on the right, and drive like loons, so it makes for some "interesting" traffic incidents. |
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28 Sep 14 - 11:09 PM (#3664368) Subject: RE: BS: 'Russia doesn't make anything' From: Sawzaw India and Russia on Dec. 24 reinforced their defense ties by signing weapons deals worth around $4.5 billion, including pacts for procuring 42 new Su-30 MKI combat aircraft and 71 Mi-17V5 medium-lift military helicopters. New Delhi will buy kits for the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters for licensed production by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). "The new Su-30 MKI fighters deal, estimated at nearly $3 billion, will add to the 230 Sukhois earlier contracted," a defense ministry official says. This will take the total number of Su-30 MKI fighters in the Indian Air Force (IAF) to 272 in the next four to five years with 170 of them already in operation in the force. The official adds that these multi-role frontline aircraft also could be equipped with Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. HAL says the latest contract for the Su-30 MKI fighter jet has increased the company's total order book for the twin-seater aircraft to 222. "We have already delivered 119 of the total to the IAF," Chairman R. K. Tyagi says. Russia also will sell India 71 MI-17 V-5 military helicopters worth $1.5 billion under a follow on order by the IAF for the new 'V5' version. Under the contract, 59 of the helicopters will be bought for the IAF, while the remaining 12 will be used by the paramilitary forces. "The order for the 71 Mi-17 helicopters is an increase from a February 2010 agreement to procure 59 such helos," the defense ministry official says. These helicopters would be used by the IAF to replace its existing fleet of older versions of MI-17 and MI-8 aircraft in its inventory. The MI-17s will add to the 80 of these helicopters already inducted into the Indian armed forces. India is one of the world's largest MI-8 and MI-17 operators, with more than 100 rotorcraft in service. A joint venture agreement for establishing a manufacturing facility for the Russian MI and Kamov helicopters in India also was signed by Elcom Systems Private Ltd. and OAO Vertoleti Rassi (JSC Helicopters, Russia). "The proposed manufacturing facility in India between Elcom Systems and Russian Helicopters will serve as a base to manufacture rotorcraft products, and also implement offset projects under various defense contracts in India," the defense official says. Russia also has assured India that INS Vikramaditya, the refurbished 44,570-tonne Admiral Gorshkov for which $2.33 billion has been paid, will not be delayed beyond the latest revised delivery deadline of November 2013. The agreements were signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's day-long visit to New Delhi to attend the 13th Russia-India summit. "Russia is a key partner in our efforts to modernize our armed forces and enhance our defence preparedness. A number of joint design, development and production projects are underway in high technology areas. We expressed satisfaction that these projects are progressing well," India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says. India and Russia are likely to sign a multi-billion dollar contract soon for the design and joint development of a stealth fifth-generation fighter. The research and development contract is estimated to cost $11 billion, with the two countries expected to equally share the cost. India plans to acquire 214 of these fighter airplanes by the end of 2030 at an estimated cost of over $30 billion "The two nations also discussed the progress made in the joint development and production of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft [FGFA]," the defense ministry official says. The first FGFA prototype is expected to be delivered in 2014 and its production is likely to start in 2020 in India, he adds. India in the last decade has diversified its military hardware procurement, especially toward the U.S., Israel, France and the U.K., due to commercial disagreements with Russia, and delayed delivery of weapons and spare parts. However, Moscow remains New Delhi's top supplier of arms, accounting for more than 60-70% of India's arms purchase. "It's clear that because New Delhi has set a course for diversification of weapons suppliers, the competitive battle is escalating. Russia is ready for this," Russia's ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, said in an interview posted Dec. 24 on the Russian Foreign Ministry web site. http://aviationweek.com/awin-featured-story/india-russia-ink-defense-deals-worth-45-billion |