India, Russia plot huge arms deal

Russia is keen to make progress on the sale of the aicraft carrier the Admiral Gorshkov

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) - With Indian and Pakistani troops locked in a tense military standoff along their common border, New Delhi is expected to ink a multi-million dollar arms deal later this week with an old ally -- Russia.

A delegation headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov is in the Indian capital for talks on the deal, which may see India obtaining long-range nuclear-capable strategic bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and an aircraft carrier.

He began a series of meetings with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes Wednesday expected to culminate in the signing of a deal by the end of the week.

Russia is also offering to include India in the design and development of new weapons, possibly including fighter planes.

IN-DEPTH India-Pakistan standoff

The defense protocol the two sides are expected to sign will tie the two nations together for technical cooperation, but the weapons sales are high on the agenda.

Russia is keen to sell India the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, while the Indians are seeking a deal on two Akula-class nuclear submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles.

Power position

If New Delhi were to buy the Gorshkov the carrier would be the second to join the Indian fleet.

Analysts say India is keen to acquire the new vessels as a means of boosting its naval presence and status as a regional power.

Although India's military ties with the United States have increased recently, Russia -- a former Cold War ally -- is still India's biggest supplier of tanks, military aircraft and warships accounting for some 70 percent of all Indian military acquisitions.

India has been a long-standing customer of Russian weaponry and military supplies

Two years ago India and Russia signed a record arms deal that allowed Indian firms to build Su-30 MK1 warplanes under license.

An Indian government official quoted by Reuters said the deal under discussion could run into "hundreds of millions of dollars."

Officials said that regardless of the deal signed, any transfer of weapons would take some time, allaying immediate fears that such high-powered weapons would be deployed in the stand-off with Pakistan.

In recent weeks India has acquired several sophisticated Russian tanks, but it was unclear if they had been deployed either on the Line of Control between Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, or along the fortified border between the two countries.

-- CNN New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra contributed to this report