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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Malaysia Purchases SU-30 Fighters from Russia

Malaysia and Russia on Tuesdaysigned an agreement on purchase of 18 SU-30 multirole combat aircraft worth 900 million US dollars from Russia, Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak has said.


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Malaysia and Russia on Tuesdaysigned an agreement on purchase of 18 SU-30 multirole combat aircraft worth 900 million US dollars from Russia, Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak has said.

The payment for the aircraft would not burden the government for it was stretched until 2009, the minister told reporters afterthe signing ceremony.

Three cooperation agreements covering communications, defence, and science and technology were signed between the two countries during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Malaysia.

Najib said that the bulk of the payment would come under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Elaborating on the payment mechanism, he said Russia would implement a transfer of technology and offset program worth 270 million US dollars, constituting 30 percent of the value of the contract.

In a counter-purchase arrangement, Russian will buy 270 millionUS dollars worth of palm oil from Malaysia while the rest of the aircraft purchase will be paid in cash by Malaysia.

On the delivery of aircraft, he said that six of them would be handed over in June 2006 and another six at the end of 2006, the last batch would be delivered in 2007.

He said that the high performance aircraft would stand out for their onboard system, maneuverability, speed and their state of the art weaponry.

"Those features would make them the best in the region and one of the best in the world," he said.

The minister said that Malaysia was also keen to see the setting up of a service center for the maintenance of the aircraftwith the help of Russia.

Najib said that pilot training was another aspect that was being discussed by both sides.

He said that Malaysian pilots might be allowed to follow basic training in Russia as well as in India.

The Russian president arrived here on Monday for a two-day official visit to Malaysia, the first by a Russian head of state to the country.


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