New Delhi: British defence secretary Liam Fox arrives in Delhi on Monday on a two-day visit that proposes to enlarge broad-based cooperation in the defence sector as envisaged by the prime ministers of the two countries at their summit meet early in the year.

Secretary Fox's visit ''represents the next stage in taking this forward,'' a British High Commission statement said Saturday. Fox's visit, the first of a British defence secretary since 2005, has been described as "pivotal" as the focus on the Indian Air Force's $11 billion international tender for medium range multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) shifts from technical evaluation to the political dimensions of such an order.

The MMRCA tender is one of the largest such tenders in the contemporary arms market.

Amplifying this defence sources said the visit would kick off a series of high-profile military exchanges between the two countries, beginning next week, even as the Indian defence ministry moves towards a ''down select'' of combat aircraft competing for the MMRCA tender.

The ''down select'' of the two finalists, from the six aircraft competing in the international tender, is likely only around February next year, with a final decision slated for June-July 2011.

The competing aircraft are the American contenders, Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16 Super Viper, the Russian MiG-35, the French Dassault Aviation's Rafale, Sweden's Saab Gripen and the European consortium EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon.

The Typhoon is being promoted in India by Germany and the UK.

The Typhoon has received a boost in the MMRCA race after being ranked amongst the top two contenders in the IAF's technical trials of all six bidding aircraft. 

According to a Sunday Times report, Andrew Gallagher, chief executive of BAE Systems India, has said that the deal being offered to India would bring Delhi in as a full "fifth partner." This would include transfer of full technical sovereignty, access to computer source codes with the avowed aim of manufacturing the entire aircraft in Indian factories.

Desperate to cut down its own, committed orders for the Typhoon, the UK, in particular, would be interested in bagging an Indian order, as it would allow it to kill two birds with a stone.

One, it would allow the UK Royal Air Force to cut down the number of Typhoon fighters it has on order, and shift some of these onto the Indian 'slate'. This would allow it to divert scarce funds towards the purchase of costly Lockheed F-35 stealth fighters.

A large Indian order would also keep factories in badly hit recessionary economies of the UK and Germany humming.

Sourcing of parts from India would also help in reducing the overall costs of the Typhoon.

The induction of a major arms system also helps to bring an importing nation into a wider strategic embrace. As one of the dominant economies of the world a deeper engagement with India has already been recognised by the United Kingdom as one of its imperatives.  

A British embassy statement said that together with Indian defence minister AK Antony, Fox '...will provide senior political leadership to the bilateral defence relationship. This will ensure that the defence aspects of the new UK-India enhanced partnership play their rightful, central role.''

Fox is providing the visit all due gravitas, lining up meets not just with counterpart Antony but also with other union ministers and senior national security officials.

He adds colour to his visit with a wreath-laying ceremony at India Gate, where he pays his respects for fallen servicemen.

In their joint statement on 29 July, prime ministers Manmohan Singh and David Cameron had welcomed 'the development of broad-based UK-Indian co-operation in the defence sector'.