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.

 

[sanket]

Russia should pitched Su-57 Through MRFA .so this competition should further add more option US may pitched for F-35 all F-seriies which old design should b with drawn by US and offer Latest design in MRFA ,

 

[Pramkumar]

If they provide the TT for core for afterburner for jet engines then India should consider otherwise no use

 

[Deepak Hegde]

Su-57 is a dead duck for India !

 

[BILLY GILL]

I think at this stage we should focus on our own AMCA and not be way lead by any country. No country will give us critical TOT for sensitive military hardware like jet engines.

 

[shivkumar sinha]

This time Bharat will never come in Russian trap . Bharat must continue its focus on indigenous development of AMCA even some of the systems are less advanced. It should continue to get technologies from wherever they are available. Coupled with joint development of 110 -130 kN engine, indigenisation level in AMCA must be 90+% .

 

[Itachi]

Even Chinese j20/31/35 better 5th gen aircraft with ws engine then russian one .... ..

 

[CCPSmasher]

It goes to show thta Russian MICs can't sustain their assembly line without big ticket buyers like India and China. That time has long gone. Svcks to be delusional empire wannabe PuThin LMAO

 

[Anant]

Russia should pitched Su-57 Through MRFA .so this competition should further add more option US may pitched for F-35 all F-seriies which old design should b with drawn by US and offer Latest design in MRFA ,

Defence procurement doesn't work that way. You pitch whatever is closest to the requirements laid out. Overkill doesn't help.

 

[kumar]

We already lost our upfront payment. No need to get caught in one more.

 

[sanket]

Defence procurement doesn't work that way. You pitch whatever is closest to the requirements laid out. Overkill doesn't help.

Though Rafale is just away Formality as a winner of MRFA ,but anything can happen , Last Time out of 6 only two were Meeting technical parameters Eurofighter & Rafale others lost in Technical parameters even then they were contnders This Time two more add on F-15EX & Su-35 Thats the way it is heading IAF allowed Su-35 Participation. F-16 & Gripen are single Engine IAF was looking for Twin Engine Medium MultiRole Fighter jet. Su-35 & F-15 Ex is Heavy category Fighter jets.....

 

[Sandeep]

Even Chinese j20/31/35 better 5th gen aircraft with ws engine then russian one .... ..

No that's where your wrong. The Russian technology, talent and knowledge is still much better than the Chinese but that gap is closing. The Chinese are good at manufacturing large quantities in a short amount of time but it's technology is nowhere near as good as they claim it to be.

 

[Sandeep]

India should focus on the AMCA and quickly develop the prototype as soon as possible and stay away from any other foreign stealth jet deal. We are making steady progress and we have developed the technology that's required so now we just need to manufacture and assemble the jet to put everything we have developed in practice.

In a foreign stealth jet India will not get any critical or large amount of technology transferred to us or allow it to be made in India which gives us basically nothing. This would keep us trapped for around 40 years of importing expensive parts, spares, upgrades and LRU just to keep the jets flying or we would have no Air Force at all and to make any of the jets in India it would cost us more money than just importing them directly from Russia.

In the next ten years we will be close to putting them into production after testing all of the technology and capabilities but anything more then it might be ideal to make some small purchases. Recently Russia developed the stealth Checkmate jet which is supposed to be very cheap and India could look at just buying and importing 1-2 squadrons to just reinforce and maintain our squadron strength and air power if the price was very cheap and it's technology and fighting capabilities gives us any advantage. Another option is that we could look at leasing them for around 10 years to give our industry the time to start building the production facilities that's required.

 

[Anubhav Sharma]

Well the war is here AMCA is 15 yrs away,china is already pitching j20 Pak might get the same or KAN from turkey,war and enemies will not wait for our program.2 -3 squadrons might just do the trick for us and we might be able to posture tough against adversaries

 

[Anubhav Sharma]

Also US never offered f35 also it's too costly for us to operate so 2-3 squadrons are a viable option

 

[amerjit johal]

SU57 is totally useless. Can be easily taken out by F14 Tomcat.

 

[T.Rajesh]

India has to remain prepared for any eventuality and so we need to take a calculated decision so that the non-availability of 5th generation fighter jets does not place us in a disadvantage vis a vis our enemies.

 

[Anant]

Though Rafale is just away Formality as a winner of MRFA ,but anything can happen , Last Time out of 6 only two were Meeting technical parameters Eurofighter & Rafale others lost in Technical parameters even then they were contnders This Time two more add on F-15EX & Su-35 Thats the way it is heading IAF allowed Su-35 Participation. F-16 & Gripen are single Engine IAF was looking for Twin Engine Medium MultiRole Fighter jet. Su-35 & F-15 Ex is Heavy category Fighter jets.....

There are, atleast on paper, eight contenders for MRFA: The F-16 / F-21, F-15EX, F-18, Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen, Su-35, and MiG-35.

Of these, the F-18 is automatically eliminated by dint of being at the end of production. The Su-35 is automatically eliminated since it is too similar to our Su-30MKI, and we could simply go for more Su-30MKIs for simpler operations if the need existed. The MiG-35 is also eliminated since it is a renamed modernised MiG-29.

That leaves five contenders. Of these, four are medium-weight fighters, and the F-15EX is a heavy fighter, which reduces it's chances.

Between the 4 medium fighters, the Gripen is too similar to the Tejas Mk 2, so it has a lower chance. The Rafale, Typhoon, and F-16 are evenly matched in many aspects, with both the Rafale and the Typhoon being more expensive. The Typhoon is also manufacture by a consortium of multiple nations, which can become a headache.

As such, you see it quickly devolves down to a race between the Rafale and F-16, with the Gripen, Typhoon, and F-15EX trailing somewhat behind.

 

[Anant]

SU57 is totally useless. Can be easily taken out by F14 Tomcat.

Huh? Where did you get that from? The only nation operating F-14s today is Iran, and thanks to the sanctions regime, they are having a truly abysmal availability rate on those.

 

[Roberto]

Well the war is here AMCA is 15 yrs away,china is already pitching j20 Pak might get the same or KAN from turkey,war and enemies will not wait for our program.2 -3 squadrons might just do the trick for us and we might be able to posture tough against adversaries

China pitches J-35 (FC 31), but its a 5th gen jet

 

[Roberto]

It goes to show thta Russian MICs can't sustain their assembly line without big ticket buyers like India and China. That time has long gone. Svcks to be delusional empire wannabe PuThin LMAO

That'd be the case in~5 years when the VKS order is done. Right now they've problem to make produce for themselves. Its true with Su-75 tho

 

[Roberto]

Even Chinese j20/31/35 better 5th gen aircraft with ws engine then russian one .... ..

J-20 is ~1/2 the Xband RCS, but AL51 engine is better than WS15

 

[Pink Panther]

Though Rafale is just away Formality as a winner of MRFA ,but anything can happen , Last Time out of 6 only two were Meeting technical parameters Eurofighter & Rafale others lost in Technical parameters even then they were contnders This Time two more add on F-15EX & Su-35 Thats the way it is heading IAF allowed Su-35 Participation. F-16 & Gripen are single Engine IAF was looking for Twin Engine Medium MultiRole Fighter jet. Su-35 & F-15 Ex is Heavy category Fighter jets.....

We can’t wait for 10-15 years to get Rafale, our MK2 and even AMCA will be ready by that time.

 

[Pink Panther]

There are, atleast on paper, eight contenders for MRFA: The F-16 / F-21, F-15EX, F-18, Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen, Su-35, and MiG-35.

Of these, the F-18 is automatically eliminated by dint of being at the end of production. The Su-35 is automatically eliminated since it is too similar to our Su-30MKI, and we could simply go for more Su-30MKIs for simpler operations if the need existed. The MiG-35 is also eliminated since it is a renamed modernised MiG-29.

That leaves five contenders. Of these, four are medium-weight fighters, and the F-15EX is a heavy fighter, which reduces it's chances.

Between the 4 medium fighters, the Gripen is too similar to the Tejas Mk 2, so it has a lower chance. The Rafale, Typhoon, and F-16 are evenly matched in many aspects, with both the Rafale and the Typhoon being more expensive. The Typhoon is also manufacture by a consortium of multiple nations, which can become a headache.

As such, you see it quickly devolves down to a race between the Rafale and F-16, with the Gripen, Typhoon, and F-15EX trailing somewhat behind.

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.

 

[amerjit johal]

Huh? Where did you get that from? The only nation operating F-14s today is Iran, and thanks to the sanctions regime, they are having a truly abysmal availability rate on those.

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