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- MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian
state arms dealer Rosvooruzheniye has a deal to sell China Sukhoi fighter
aircraft worth about $2.0 billion, the governor of the region where the
planes are made was quoted as saying on Friday. Russia's Kommersant business
daily quoted Khabarovsk Governor Viktor Ishaev as saying a deal for 60
SU-30 planes had been sealed after nearly four years of negotiations. Kommersant
quoted unnamed sources as saying the deal was preliminary.
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- Both Rosvooruzheniye and the Moscow-based Sukhoi design
bureau declined to confirm or deny that a deal had been signed.
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- The SU-30 is a fighter equipped with advanced "thrust
vectoring" engine nozzles which give the craft great maneuverability.
One SU-30 crashed in June at the Paris airshow when the tail of the aircraft
hit the ground during a loop.
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- China paid Russia $2 billion for 22 SU-27 jets in 1996.
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- Russia's arms industry has been hit since the breakup
of the Soviet Union by a collapse in domestic demand because the struggling
armed forces' procurement budget has plummeted. Russia also lost export
markets in the ex-Soviet bloc.
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- Rosvooruzheniye is keen to boost exports and especially
to conquer markets in the Middle and Far East.
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