Angola Inks $1Bln Arms Deals With Russia

Russia’s state arms export monopoly has signed a $1 billion deal package with Angola to deliver military equipment, build an ammunition plant and provide maintenance services, Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday.

Rosoboronexport will supply 18 Su-30K fighter jets to the southern African nation, the daily said, citing sources at the arms exports company and the Russian military.

The Su-30K fighters in question are a batch of aircraft that were initially supplied to India in the late 1990s, prior to Delhi receiving the more advanced multirole Su-30MKI variant. They were returned to Russia in 2007, Vedomosti said, and have since lain idle in a Belarusian repair plant. 

Russia to Offer Brazil Stake in Future Advanced Fighter Project

A Russian military delegation about to visit Brazil will offer joint development of a fifth-generation combat aircraft “of the type” of its own most newest fighter to Brazilian defense officials, a member of the delegation told RIA Novosti Monday.

The proposal appears to be in support of an unsolicited offer by Russia’s combat aircraft maker Sukhoi of its Su-35 fighter, that has been struck off Brazil’s shortlist for its air force’s F-X2 tender for the purchase of 36 fighter jets worth $4 billion. Russia is still hoping to sell the Su-35s or similar aircraft to Brazil outside the framework of that tender, sweetening the deal with the new proposal.

“During the talks in Brazil, we are ready to offer our partners deliveries of ready-for-sale advanced aircraft like the Su-35, but also joint development of a next-generation [combat] aircraft of the T-50 type,” the delegation source said.