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| Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 (File Photo) |
By J. Michael Cole
According to news reports this week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) might have to wait longer before it can induct its first fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) after Russia, with which it is co-producing the platform, imposed delays and unexpectedly hiked development costs.
Despite the U.S. encouraging India to join the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter consortium, New Delhi committed itself to the Sukhoi/ Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) FGFA variant of the Sukhoi PAK FA PMF T-50, also known as the “perspective multi-role fighter.” The program was initiated during a visit to New Delhi by then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in December 2010.
Under the two-decade, US$35 billion program — India’s largest single-item defense investment ever — the IAF was to receive three variants of the aircraft in 2014, 2017, and 2019, with the final version entering service from 2020 (since then induction has been pushed to 2022). The IAF intended to induct a total of 200 FGFAs — 166 single-seats and 44 twin-seats — but that number has since been trimmed down to 144 single seaters, ostensibly for financial considerations.
Read the full story at The Diplomat