India may purchase 48 additional Mi-17 V5 medium lift military helicopters by the end of 2017, PTI reported on Sunday. Rosoboronexport, the agency that supplies defence equipment to Moscow, said the price negotiations will begin in August.
“Our Indian partners know the programme very well,” Aleksander Mikheev, the chief executive officer of Rosoboronexport, told IANS in an interview. “They have more than 300 helicopters belonging to the Mi-8 and Mi-17 family.”
India currently has more than 150 Mi-17 V5 helicopters, while most Mi-8s have been phased out. The Mi-17 V5 choppers, one of the most advanced aircraft of the Mi-8/Mi-17 family, have night vision technology, all-weather radar and a new autopilot system.
The two countries are also discussing the modernisation of Sukhoi fighter jets, Mikheev said. “The Indian Air Force has some requirements for improvement of performance and operational characteristics, mainly with regard to avionics, electronic warfare systems, as well as updates of weapon systems by both Indian and Russian companies,” he added.
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