Source:
The Moscow TimesTuesday, Dec. 2, 2003. Page 5
Vietnam Orders More FightersBy Lyuba Pronina
Staff Writer
Vietnam on Monday agreed to buy four Sukhoi fighter jets for $100 million, a deal that adds fresh impetus to President Vladimir Putin's drive to increase arms sales to Southeast Asia.
The deal, which follows sales earlier this year to Indonesia and Malaysia, means Southeast Asia this year may surpass China as Russia's top arms market, defense industry experts said.
Vietnam signed a protocol agreement with state arms export agency Rosoboronexport to buy four Su-30MKKs, according to a source within Aviation Holding Co. Sukhoi. The fighters are made by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Production Association.
Hanoi already has 12 Su-27s.
This is the
third arms deal with Vietnam this year, according to Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies defense think tank.
Earlier this year it bought 12 Project 12418 missile boats for $120 million and the S-300PMU1 air defense systems for $250 million, he said.
"These purchases reflect a balanced replacement of obsolete systems acquired from the Soviet Union," he said.
The new order caps a banner year for Sukhoi fighters, which have accounted for nearly half of all Russian arms exports in recent years.
China bought 24 Su-30MK2s in January, Indonesia signed up for four Su-27/30s in April, and Malaysia agreed to buy 18 Su-30MKMs in August.
"The Southeast Asian arms market is hot," Makiyenko said.
Combined, the contracts with Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are worth about $1.6 billion, while the deal with China, which is notoriously tight-lipped about its arms purchases, is worth about $1.2 billion, Makiyenko said.
Rosoboronexport declined to comment on the deal signed Monday, except to say that it is "continuing to successfully sign contracts."
Rosoboronexport deputy director Sergei Chemezov was quoted by Arms-TASS as saying last month that total arms deliveries by the agency in the first 10 months of 2003 topped $4.5 billion.
Makiyenko said that 2003 is the fourth straight year of record arms exports for both Rosoboronexport and Russia as a whole.
He said Rosoboronexport's actual revenues, which differ from deliveries, could hit $5 billion this year.