NEW DELHI, December 24. /TASS/. Russia is ready to make a transition to execution of full lifecycle contracts in relations with the Indian Ministry of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Saturday.
"The most important is to make a transition to contracts for the full lifecycle. We applied these contracts in relations between our industry and our Defense Ministry and the result is high serviceability of aircraft used during the Syrian conflict. Similar contracts can have international significance and can be made between our industry and the Defense Ministry of India," the official said.
"It means that Russia is passing from the "sell and forget" principle to the principle of interaction with our Indian friends from selling time to after-sales servicing, right up to disposal. The Indian side is highly interested in that and this is an absolutely new quality in our relations with India," Rogozin noted.
Interaction on defense and technology cooperation problems was discussed during the meeting with India’s Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Russian official said. This was the first meeting between Rogozin and Sitharaman after she assumed the office of the India’s Defense Minister in September 2017.
"We discussed matters with the new India’s Minister of Defense, related to transformation of military industry conferences - and we have already held two such conferences this year - into the process of ongoing coordination of comments that always emerge in the course of operation of armament and materiel," Rogozin noted.
Dmitry Rogozin visited the capital of India for participation in the intergovernmental commission meeting.