India, Russia to hold naval, air force exercises

India and Russia will hold joint naval and air force exercises next year.

The decision was taken at the 13th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) held in Moscow Monday.

The two countries also agreed to "expand the range of their strategic partnership in a significant manner".

According to a defence ministry statement, the IRIGC-MTC meeting was co- chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.

The meeting was held two days after the commissioning of the much-awaited aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya into the Indian Navy.

The statement said the two countries decided to hold "joint air force level exercise for the first time" besides a joint naval exercise in the Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan.

Both exercises will be held in 2014.

The armies of the two countries had held 'Exercise Indra' in Rajasthan last month with a focus on anti-terrorism.

"The two ministers agreed that there is a need for further cooperation at all levels, especially in view of the regional and global challenges and to fight the menace of terrorism jointly. Both sides reviewed the situation in West Asia, especially in Syria and the evolving paradigm in Afghanistan," the release said.

It said two sides agreed that the time had come to expand the cooperation not only in product design and development "but also to involve various echelons of the defence establishments in strategising policies and cooperation in the fast changing global security scenario".

Referring to the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) and Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA), Antony said the two projects were significant because they symbolised going beyond the buyer-seller relationship.

Shoigu promised that the Russian naval aviation specialists will train Indian pilots fully for take-offs and landings on INS Vikramaditya and in all probability the training will be held in Goa.

The meeting also reviewed issues relating to T-90 tanks and SU-30 fighter jet projects.

On the issue of after sales support, the two sides felt that they should sign long-term maintenance support agreement.

Earlier, Antony and members of the Indian delegation drove down to Poklonnaya Gora (Bow-Down Hill) at Victory Park and laid a wreath at the World War II Memorial.

The Indian delegation included Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur, Secretary Defence Production G.C. Pati, Indian ambassador Ajai Malhotra, Air Marshal S. Sukumar, Vice Admiral N.N. Kumar and Lt Gen Narendra Singh.