NEW DELHI: Indians will begin training Vietnamese fighter pilots on its Sukhoi-30MKI “air dominance jets” from next year onwards, much like it has been teaching sailors from the country for operations on board Kilo-class submarines for the last three years.An agreement to this effect was inked on Monday after talks between defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart General Ngo Xuan Lich, who is leading a mega 30-member military delegation, including the air force and naval chiefs, on a three-day visit to India.This is in tune with the decision taken during PM Modi ’s visit to Vietnam last September to “elevate” the bilateral “strategic partnership”, which was established in July 2007, to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”.India and Vietnam, of course, are both concerned about China’s assertive behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region, and are steadily building cooperation in military training, exercises and defence technology, as well as in joint oil exploration in the contentious South China Sea “Both countries are going to further crank up their defence ties, with Parrikar also offering partnership in setting up defence manufacturing capacity in Vietnam. Gen Lich, who also met the PM and national security adviser Ajit Doval on Monday, said he wanted the two countries to also work closely in multilateral fora like the ADMM-Plus ( Asean defence ministers’ meeting-plus),” said a source.The defence secretaries of India and Vietnam will now meet in early-2017 to identify military projects and equipment under the new $500 million defence line of credit announced by Modi during his visit to Vietnam.As earlier reported by TOI, India has even offered to export the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Varunastra anti-submarine torpedoes, and other military hardware and software to Vietnam.The pact on training of Vietnamese fighter pilots has been in the works since 2013, but could not be finalised earlier due to some logistical and financial hitches.Now, Vietnamese pilots will begin arriving in India from next year onwards to get both basic and advanced training on the Sukhois of the IAF.