Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighters

A contract for supplying 18 Russian fighters Su-30MKM was signed in Kuala-Lumpur today. A representative of the Russian delegation told RBC that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attended the ceremony of signing the contract.

This contract was initialed during Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov's visit to Kuala-Lumpur in May of this year. The value of the contract is about $900m, and the contract term is five years. In addition to supplying the warplanes, Russia is to train pilots and ground personnel, as well as to provide the Malaysian Air Force with a sufficient stock of spare parts during this term. The deal has been made within the framework of the modernization of the Malaysian Air Force. The last letter M in the name of the planes means "specification for Malaysia."

Agreements on bilateral scientific and technical cooperation and cooperation in the sector of informational and communicational technologies were also signed as a result of the Russian-Malaysian negotiations.