NEW DELHI — According to TASS, within the framework of the international air show Aero India 2023, Russia and India are discussing the joint development of fifth-generation fighters at the facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited [HAL].

The general director of the Russian arms export agency Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, emphasized that everything will depend only on India since the Russian side is ready to conclude a contract for the production of fighters, both generation 4++ and fifth-generation.

Earlier, it was already reported that on the sidelines of the Aero India 2023 aerospace exhibition, UAC offered the Indian side to assemble fighters at the Indian company HAL, developed based on the MiG-35 aircraft.

According to Mikheev, the joint experience of working on the Su-30MKI aircraft, which are the flagships of the Indian Air Force, has shown that Russia and India can cooperate on such extremely complex and high-tech projects.

It is worth noting that the Indian two-seater version of the Su-30MKI was developed taking into account the customer’s requirements, based on the experience gained on the Su-37 fighter of the 4++ generation.

To fully meet Indian requirements, the Su-30MKI variant was in turn fitted with AL-31FP thrust vectoring engines, which had never before been fitted to export versions.

Also, instead of the airborne radar station [BRLS] H011M Bars with passive phased array antenna, active phased array antenna [AFAR] and modified avionics equipment [avionics] created in joint cooperation between Russia, India, France, and Israel was installed.

Regarding the localization program for the production of military equipment, under the national project “Made in India”, where the level of localization should be at least 70%, it is very likely that the Indian country will first try to license and localize the production of Su-57 aircraft at the enterprise of the leading Indian aircraft manufacturer HAL.

In addition, the Indians will try to license not the export version of the Su-57E with Al-41F1 engines, but a modified version of the Su-57M with “second stage” engines and updated avionics.

It is worth noting that earlier India and Russia were already involved in the joint development of the Su-57 modification as part of the Indian FGFA 5th generation fighter program.

However, given the fact that the Indian side could make a relatively small contribution to this project, but asked Russia for a full exchange of technology, including the localization of the production of “second stage” engines on its territory, which in fact did not arrange the Russian side, all work in this direction was frozen.

Nevertheless, New Delhi’s entry into the Russian-Indian FGFA program testifies to the high degree of interest of the Indian Air Force in the Su-57, which at one time, even after the completion of the FGFA program, was already ready to purchase a Russian fighter from the 5 generations, as they say, “off the shelf”.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that, according to several publications, it became known about plans to purchase Russian Su-57 fighters at once from two African countries. We are talking about Algeria and Morocco.

According to available information from open sources, while Morocco only plans to sign an agreement, Algeria has signed a firm contract and will nevertheless become the first foreign buyer of Russia’s fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet.

According to the MenaDefense portal, an agreement has already been signed for the delivery of 14 aircraft in the export modification of the Su-57E to Algeria. The amount of the contract is not disclosed.

However, it was emphasized that this contract was signed during the visit of the Algerian delegation to MAKS-2019, according to which the last Su-57E fighters should be delivered to Algeria no later than the end of 2025.