NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — In February, Vladimir Drozhzhov, the deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik that Russia and India had agreed a draft contract for the joint development of the FGFA and the Russian side was ready for its signing.
However, The Times of India reported that the decision was made at the "highest levels" to avoid "mistakes" made during the acquisition of Russia's Sukhoi Su-30MKI jets, which had not implied the transfer of technologies.
"Though bulk of the 272 Sukhois [240 inducted until now] contracted from Russia have been made by Hindustan Aeronautics [HAL], they have been basically assembled here with imported knocked-down kits. HAL still cannot manufacture the Sukhois on its own," the source told the news outlet.
The FGFA project is part of the Make in India initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. In the project, the Russian side is represented by the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer and the Indian side by the HAL.
