Russia ready to negotiate with India on MiG-35 fighters

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Russia is keen that India buys its MiG-35 fighter aircraft, a top Russian official said.

The Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RAC MiG) has proposed to India to consider the possibility of concluding a contract on the supply of the MiG-35 multipurpose fighter jet, RAC MiG Director General Sergei Korotkov told Itar-Tass in an interview.

"Despite the fact that we lost the tender for the supply of 126 multipurpose fighters to the Indian Air Force, the RAC MiG fulfilled all the requirements set the tender committee," Korotkov said. "The aircraft has demonstrated good results, sometimes even exceeding expectations."

According to him, the corporation hopes that "India will consider the possibility of concluding a contract on the supply of the MiG-35 fighters."

"And we will have the opportunity to implement it," he said. "Within this bundle of knowledge that India received during this tender, I would like the MiG-35 issue to be continued against the background of our common history and 50 years of partnership."

According to preliminary information, the winner of the tender for the supply of fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force was the French Dassault Rafale. However, neither party has announced the official timeframe of the contract conclusion.

"This year the next batch of four aircraft will be delivered," said the head

of the MiG Aircraft Corporation.

He also took part in the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the

Soviet MiG-21 fighters' deliveries to the Indian Air Force.

The agreement on the supply of the MiG-21 planes to India was signed in 1962, and the deliveries began a year later. In 1967, the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over to the Indian Air Force the first MiG-21 fighter that was built here under the USSR license.