In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
New Delhi and Moscow are moving forward on the procurement of a new aircraft carrier and additional carrier-based fighters following the visit to India of a top-level Russian delegation. However, the delegation could not lock in agreement on other key defense projects.
MOSCOW — Russia is boosting defense cooperation with India, signing several contracts during the visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to New Delhi. The two sides finally settled the price increase for modernization of the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier. Russian officials would not reveal the revised price for the ex-Admiral Gorshkov, but Indian press reports quote a figure of $2.33 billion. In 2004 India agreed to take the 44,500-ton carrier for free, paying only $800 million for modernization at Russia’s Severodvinsk-based Sevmash facility.
Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi has started flight-testing the fifth-generation T-50 fighter developed in the PAK FA program. The first prototype made a 47-min. maiden flight from the airfield at Sukhoi’s Knaapo facility in Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Jan. 29. The fighter is slated to replace Russian air force Su-27s beginning in 2015.
