08/12/2009
Indian media report that India and Russia will sign a contract for 5 more Russian Kamov-31 airborne early warning helicopters, after India’s Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) cleared the purchase on Aug 4/09. The rumored cost is INR 9.5 billion (about $195-200 million), but that remains to be finalized in negotiations. Note that transparency is often low with Russian contracts, and India has often found that the final price differs from any negotiated deal with Russian firms.
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08/12/2009
In August 1990, Iraq’s Air Force had more than 500 aircraft in their inventory. The IqAF was decimated in 1991, after Saddam invaded Kuwait and ended up facing the US military and its allies. What remained was hobbled by extensive, and expensive, no-fly zones, until the war formally concluded in 2003 with a US-led invasion that eliminated Saddam’s regime. Rebuilding the IqAF under the new Iraqi government has been a slow process.
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