NEW DELHI, Jan 19: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov arrived here on Monday with a promise that Moscow would deliver by 2008 a revamped Soviet-era aircraft carrier which India plans to buy for 1.8 billion dollars.

"The shipment of '(Admiral) Gorshkov' complete with its armaments, along the lines of the proposed agreement, is expected before 2008," Ivanov said after arriving for a three-day trip.

Mr Ivanov is due to start talks on Tuesday around the sale of the 273-metre 44,570-ton Gorshkov carrier. He told reporters that Moscow was keen to "go beyond an arms buyer-seller relationship (with India) to joint production" of the latest weapons systems.

Russia accounts for more than 70 per cent of the military hardware used by India. However, New Delhi, often upset with delayed deliveries from Russian firms, has been looking to Europe, Israel and the United States for defence equipment.

Mr Ivanov, who will meet his Indian counterpart George Fernandes on Tuesday, declined to comment on the possible sale to India of nuclear-capable Tupulov-22M3 bombers and nuclear submarines.

A note circulated by accompanying Russian officials said however that Moscow was prepared to lease out two such long-range maritime planes and an aircraft with early warning systems, and to sell cruise missiles to India in a package worth three billion dollars.

Mr Ivanov heads a delegation of top officials and captains of Russian armament companies who will hold talks with officials from India's army, navy and the air force.

The defence minister, who returns home on Wednesday, will also hold talks on the supply of military spare parts which India desperately needs for its ageing fleet of MiG warplanes and T-72 main battle tanks, Indian officials said.

The Gorshkov contract entails a 700-million-dollar package for the overhaul of the carrier and one billion dollars to supply 28 MiG-29K maritime jets and six Kamov-28 and Kamov-31 anti-submarine helicopters, they said.

"In fact, the Gorshov deal will encompass 20 sub-contracts including the planes and armaments for the aircraft carrier which is currently rusting at the Russian port of Severodvinsk for more than 10 years now," one defence ministry official said.

"The deal is likely to be signed during Ivanov's visit," he said. The contract, if clinched, would be the largest single defence deal between India and Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The two sides are yet to agree on the missiles to be deployed on the aircraft carrier. Russia insists its Kashthan missiles are best suited for Gorshkov but India is wavering between the Israeli Barak and the French Aster defence systems, sources said. -AFP