India allowed to produce 'stealth' Su-30MKI
Not only is India allowed to produce Su-30MKI domestically, it also reached an agreement with Russia on making this extremely powerful fighter stealthy.
Sputniknews quoted a source from the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant (Russia) as saying that Irkutsk will supply 40 Su-30MKI fighter jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF). These aircraft are manufactured in India under a Russian license.
At the same time, India is negotiating with Russia on a package to upgrade 194 Su-30MKIs into near-fifth-generation fighters, or near-stealth aircraft, at a cost of more than $8 billion. These upgraded Su-30s are called Super Sukhoi.
To speed up the negotiation process, a group of Russian officials has just arrived in New Delhi to discuss the upgrade plan and is expected to finalize it in the next 4 or 6 months.
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| The Su-30MKI's bomb-carrying capability is extremely impressive. |
It is known that this is not the first time the Su-30MKI stealth deal has been mentioned in an effort to strengthen the Indian Air Force. However, the number of aircraft is very different.
As early as 2012, the Indian Express newspaper quoted Indian diplomatic sources confirming that during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia, a contract to purchase 42 more "stealth standard" Su-30MKI fighters was discussed and ready to be signed.
According to the source, the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security had taken the decision to buy 40 more Sukhoi fighters in 2010, but negotiations were delayed because India was considering some features in the fifth-generation fighters.
Finally, the Russian side has agreed to upgrade the Su-30MKI fighters to the latest variant (called Super Sukhoi) with additional features. The Su-30MKI Super Sukhoi variant will have a new cockpit, upgraded radar and radar evading capabilities.
Notably, the new variant can carry a heavier weapons payload, in particular, the aircraft can be equipped with the BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile. In addition, India is also looking to upgrade most of its Su-30MKI aircraft in service for a long time.
After Russia failed in the tender to supply medium-range multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) to India, officials said that Moscow assured New Delhi that it would launch the best upgrade packages for the Su-30MKI aircraft.
The deal to supply 40 Su-30MKI Super Hornet fighters to India is worth around $3.7 billion and the contract will be implemented until 2018. The addition of 40 Su-30MKIs by 2018 will increase the number of fighters of this type in the Indian Air Force to 272. India plans to replace 120 MiG-21 aircraft by 2017 and with the MMRCA program yet to be implemented, the Su-30MKI squadrons will be the mainstay of the Indian Air Force. |
According to Baodatviet
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