A joint project between India and Russia to develop a military transport aircraft is on tenterhooks due to differences between the two sides and officials now bet on intervention during PM Narendra Modi's Moscow visit this month to rescue it.

Officials in both the countries have shared with ET that the project to develop a new 20-tonne military transport aircraft (MTA) to replace Indian Air Force's ageing fleet of Antonov AN-32 aircraft, with $300 million investment from each side, is on thin ice, and Moscow now plans to go ahead on its own if the Indian side does not come on board. The main point of contention is the engine for the new generation transporter.

Sources in India have told ET that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is insisting on a new generation engine with a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system to give adequate power to the new plane.

Russia, however, wants to use the PS 90 that powers its new generation Ilyushin IL-76 transporters for the MTA project. The Russian side believes that the new variant of its PS 90 engine will offer adequate performance and a FADEC power plant is not necessary. It also argues that IAF put up the demand for FADEC only at a later stage.