NEW DELHI, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia, India's largest arms supplier, hopes to win the bid to modernize the country's armor, a spokesman for Russia's main defense industry exporter said Thursday.
Continuing hardware contracts that are already worth $10 billion, Rosoboronexport said it had submitted a bid to upgrade the Soviet-era T-70 main battle tank.
"Russia is taking a proactive part in the tender, although it is always up to the customer to choose," Mikhail Sukhachev told a news conference against the backdrop of the Defexpo India 2006 exhibition of land and naval arms systems.
Of the 12 countries that submitted bids three years ago to upgrade another tank, the T-72, only Russia, represented by Rosoboronexport, Belarus and Israel remain in contention.
"Our proposals are more attractive because we consider all of the customer's wishes," Sukhachev said.
He said Russia had also submitted proposals on the modernization of the BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle. "The performance of the updated version outclasses the [previous] BMP-2, and we hope that India will decide in our favor," Sukhachev added.
Over the past five years, Russia has exported more than $7 billion in military hardware to India.
