News Story: India To Upgrade Sukhoi Fleet With Russia's Help

An Indian Su-30MKI Flanker Fighter (Image: Wiki Commons)

NEW DELHI — India has stepped up negotiations with Russia to upgrade its 194 Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole aircraft with the near fifth-generation level at a cost of more than $8 billion. The upgraded version would be renamed Super Sukhoi.

"A Russian team was in New Delhi earlier this month to discuss [the] upgrade plan with India, which will be finalized in the next four to six months," said a senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) wants to upgrade the existing and eventually the entire fleet of 272 Su-30MKI to the near fifth-generation level to increase its combat worthiness, an IAF official said.

While the IAF official said the [Su-30MKI] upgrade won't affect the proposed Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) — worth $25 billion — analysts say the diversion of funds for the Super Sukhoi could delay the FGFA.

India and Russia inked a Preliminary Development Agreement in 2011 to jointly build the FGFA. However, a final agreement, which will clear the payment of around $6 billion as India's share in the development of the FGFA, has yet to be inked because the two sides have not been able to resolve issues relating to work share in production, the order from IAF and the incorporation of FGFA by IAF.

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