Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-controlled arms exporter, is in talks with Indian businesses about co-producing aircraft weapons for the Indian Air Force, according to a report by Russia’s RIA state news agency on Tuesday morning.

RIA quoted Rosoboronexport’s General Director Alexander Mikheyev as saying, “Rosoboronexport is collaborating with Indian private and public businesses to set up joint production of aviation weapons and integrate them into the current aviation fleet in India.”

The report did not give any information about which Indian companies would participate or when the potential production would begin.

According to this year’s report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia remains India’s biggest arms provider with 45 per cent of Indian defense imports in 2022.

Mikheyev stated that Rosoboronexport and Indian partners had supplied the Indian Ministry of Defense with Su-30MKI fighter jets, tanks, armored vehicles, and shells.

He also said that India and Russia had begun co-producing the AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles since the start of the year.