Russia Revives Push to Sell Su-57 Fighter Jets to India As Country Pursues Domestic Program

Russia is making a renewed push to sell its Su-57 stealth fighter jet to India, even after the Indian Air Force (IAF) recently greenlit its own indigenous fighter program. According to reports, Russia is keen to showcase the Su-57 in India, but the motivations behind the move remain unclear.

This renewed interest from Russia comes years after India withdrew from the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) program, a collaborative effort to develop an Su-57 variant specifically designed for the IAF. The program ultimately failed due to disagreements over technology, cost, and developmental direction.

India's recent commitment to the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a domestically developed 5th-generation fighter, has emphasized the country's ambition for self-reliance in defense technology. This focus on indigenous production seems to complicate Russia's attempts to revive interest in the Su-57.

Previous endeavors to sell India on the single-engine Su-75 fighter jet were also unsuccessful, with the IAF reportedly showing limited interest. It remains open whether Russia's latest efforts will be sufficient to change India's stance on acquiring 5th-generation fighter jets.

Russia's motivations behind its renewed pursuit of the Su-57 program in India are uncertain. The IAF's apparent preference for domestically developed solutions leaves the future of a potential Su-57 deal in serious question.

 

[WarTech]

Problem is Super Sukhoi program, the main goal of this program is to thwart any attempt by IAF to decide on F15’s, though it’s a great fighter and having even two squadron's of them would be very helpful against China.

Man, think about how we could terrorise the CCP and Pakistan if we got those.

 

[Pink Panther]

Unlikely. Rafale second tranche, with weapons and offsets, costed Egypt 150 million USD around the same time US charged 120+ millions from Taiwan without any offsets or weapons. Plus the deliveries are faster as well for Rafale.

Turkey paid $23Bln for 40 brand new F16 Block 70/72 and 79 up-gradation kits and other equipments and weapons package.

 

[das bab]

We need to open trade route between russia and india for this to suceed china has strong connections with russia atm. And it will easier to derail any sort of collaboration unless we workout with our neighbours unless this happens we had allready have expeirience with sukois and migs which is in direct way of rafale and tejas

 

[Pink Panther]

Man, think about how we could terrorise the CCP and Pakistan if we got those.

We wish, but foreign watch loving people have different wish, this is why every major procurement gets dragged indefinitely.

 

[Pink Panther]

Unlikely. Rafale second tranche, with weapons and offsets, costed Egypt 150 million USD around the same time US charged 120+ millions from Taiwan without any offsets or weapons. Plus the deliveries are faster as well for Rafale.

Egypt bought Rafale F3 with no weapons package for $150mln, US has a sanction on them to get Meteor or Scalp, for Rafale F4, with weapons package, integration of Indian missiles and made in India will cost $275Mln+.

 

[Akshat]

Your response to my facts was utter bollocks below.

Because there were no facts.

 

[Akshat]

Turkey paid $23Bln for 40 brand new F16 Block 70/72 and 79 up-gradation kits and other equipments and weapons package.

And where will that bring the average price?

 

[Akshat]

Egypt bought Rafale F3 with no weapons package for $150mln, US has a sanction on them to get Meteor or Scalp, for Rafale F4, with weapons package, integration of Indian missiles and made in India will cost $275Mln+.

They got weapons. Check it out.

 

[Akshat]

in that case, only older variant F16 Block C/D failed not the latest Block 70/72.

All the same.

 

[Akshat]

Bruh are you fr? Maintaining 90% efficiency by building 13 jets would be insanely impossible as the backlog is 261 jets, not 20-30. Bro does not have the capability to do it even in his dreams, unless they increase the production rate massively, for which the CEO wants even more orders, and the increase would be paltry 4 per month. Not sustainable for us.
And you think that they can deliver it in 36 months 💀💀

The backlog is not for now. Indonesian deal doesn’t include deliveries till 2026. Same for UAE. So the bro is doing what he is promising and he has always done it. So that’s the only sustainable way for us.

 

[Akshat]

LM already has infra at Tata to make F21’s, so it will be available within a year if order is placed, but I don’t think GOI will make any decision regarding MRFA in the next 5 Years.

They didn’t deliver even to Taiwan from the Us facility itself for 7 years.

 

[Pink Panther]

All the same.

Then why doesn’t Dassault offer F4 for the price of Rafale B/C that were made in 1995, Rafale B/C made in 1995 and Rafale F4 made in 2024 are same right.

 

[Pink Panther]

And where will that bring the average price?

not easy to calculate because they paid only $23Bln for lot of things, but we can’t buy even 114 Rafales for $30Bln.

 

[Pink Panther]

They didn’t deliver even to Taiwan from the Us facility itself for 7 years.

Dassault took 6 years to deliver only 36 jets, it is not that bad.

 

[Anant]

You must be one of the handful of Indians that hasn't watched - Top Gun - Maverick.

I have watched parts of it. However, I absolutely refuse to take what happens in a movie to be any sort of indication about what would happen in a real-life scenario.

If we go along those lines, I remember reading a book where a couple of enterprising pilots manage to steal a venerable World War 1-era fighter from a museum in an unfriendly nation as they escape, and eventually manage to shoot down a modern (for the 1970s, when the book is based) jet fighter. Should we then conclude we can do the same?

 

[Anant]

As Boeing is ending production of F18 in 2027, wonder what will happen if Boeing offers them for the base price of $55 Million each, among these options F16 is still the cheapest and have near similar payload carrying capability as Rafale and will also be available faster compared to other options, but free foreign watches might alter the decision making.

Won't happen. See, you have to realise they won't sell them on a loss. If you look at the final order the F-18 has received, the jets are pegged at between 70 and 75 million USD per aircraft. Now, factor in the fact that thr Americans already have an entire ecosystem set up for the F-18, that this is a domestic sale (therefore cheaper), and that this doesn't include weapons, and you would quickly realise that a foreign sale would cost around 100 million USD per aircraft, and quite possibly considerably more (without weapons).