JV is not sole way of air defense production cooperation with Brazil - FSMTC
BRASILIA. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Russia and Brazil may set up a joint venture to make air defense systems, and other forms of cooperation are not excluded either, Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service head Alexander Fomin replied to an Interfax question about joint production of Pantsir-S1 systems.
"It does not have to be a joint venture; in fact, a joint venture is not a panacea, this is just one of the possible forms," he said.
Joint design, production and servicing of armaments are not always the areas of a joint venture, he noted.
A memorandum of mutual understanding in air defense was signed during the Brazilian visit of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The memorandum applies to any air defense systems, such as the Pantsir-S1 missile and artillery launcher and the Igla-S man-portable air defense system.
"In fact, the memorandum declares our intention to cooperate and to proceed from simple procurement of finished products to strategic partnership in a truly high-tech area, i.e. technology transfer," Fomin said.
Finished products will be delivered at first, and assembly, development, servicing and "everything connected to that" will follow, he said.
