70 Russian jets for Algeria at $ 1.5 billion

Algerian daily L'Algian Independent quoted the Russian news agency Interfax as saying on Thursday that Algeria and Russia signed a military deal where Russia sells Algeria 70 Maig 29 type jets at a cost of $ 1.5 billion.

The paper said that according to the Russian aviation department, "the two countries signed the deal recently several months after hard negotiations, noting that the Algerian army will receive the jets which are superior to the American F-15 planes, in shifts up to year 2008." The paper indicated that talks also dealt with modernizing two Algerian submarines.

The renovation of the Algerian military fleet falls in the course of enhancing closeness between the two countries, especially with the expected role from the Algerian army to take part in special missions in NATO in the Mediterranean concerning what is called fighting of "international terrorism" and smuggling operations.

Algeria concentrated in its talks on modernizing its air fleets also on maintaining military power balance in the Arab Maghreb area especially after Morocco received 30 jet fighters.