To hardsell his stealth fighter jet to India, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered New Delhi his fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet and showed his willingness to co-develop and co-produce it further.
“As for the Su-57, we offered our friends from India to jointly develop this machine, a fifth-generation aircraft. I think it’s the best to date. But our Indian friends said, ‘well, let's see’,” he said while responding to an Indian journalist’s query while interacting with heads of leading global news agencies.
Recalling Russia’s earlier invite to build this stealth fighter with India, Putin said, “In principle, this could have been our (Russia-India) product. (But) We made it independently (after India withdrew from the joint development project).”
India and Russia initiated the joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) program in 2007 to co-develop an advanced stealth fighter derived from Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 platform. After over a decade of negotiations, India formally withdrew from the project in 2018 due to unresolved issues regarding costs, technology transfer, and performance.
In a clear indication of a smooth technology transfer for the stealth fighter jet, the Russian President said, “Su-57 could be a joint venture between us. We developed it ourselves, and we're certainly ready to work with India, supplying and developing it further. There are no restrictions here; we have no limitations whatsoever.”
On defence cooperation, Putin said Russia is ready to continue collaboration with India in areas such as the BrahMos missile programme, fifth-generation technologies, fighter aircraft, and air defence systems. “Russia is prepared to expand cooperation with India and share advanced defence technologies,” he said.
Though India is busy building its own Advanced Multirole Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project after a year-long search for the fighter jet in the global market, it has not completely shut the door on Russia’s offer on the Su-57 project. The then chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, D K Sunil, had in April this year, confirmed that Russia had presented the capabilities of the Su-57 stealth fighter to the IAF. “I think presentations have been made regarding the Su-57 to the Air Force team by the Russian team regarding the capabilities of the aircraft. We are awaiting the Russian quotation about the investment. Then we will approach the air force that these are the kind of numbers required to produce these aircraft and these are the timelines,” he had said.
As India’s own 5th-generation fighter plane under the AMCA project is unlikely to join the IAF before 2035, India may consider procuring at least two squadrons (around 36) of Su-57s, provided Russia fulfils all technical specifications of the IAF.
With China working on two sixth-generation fighter projects (Chengdu J-36 and the Shenyang J-50) and Pakistan signing an initial agreement and confirmed plans to acquire 40 Chinese Shenyang J-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jets, the IAF can’t wait for long to procure a 5th-generation stealth fighter jet as its squadrons have already shrunk to an alarming 29 from an ideal 42.5.
The IAF has been dependent on Russia (erstwhile Soviet Union) for its fighter jets for nearly six decades, a relationship that began with the induction of the MiG-21 in the late 1960s. The backbone of IAF’s modern fleet is also heavily reliant on Russian-origin hardware, including the Su-30MKI (which forms the bulk of the frontline fleet) and MiG-29 jets.
To avoid overreliance on a single supplier, India has of late actively diversified its squadrons by purchasing 36 French-made Dassault Rafale jets and has issued a Letter of Request recently to procure 114 Rafale jets.
Through its Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) initiatives, the Modi govt is gradually shifting towards domestically-produced jets like HAL Tejas Mk-1 and Mk-2 and yet-to-be-developed AMCA.
