AFP, The Indian Air Force (IAF) has refused to accept a batch of Sukhoi jets from military ally Russia after engine problems in a previous consignment, a report said Sunday.
The air force has told the defence ministry to stop further payments to the Russian manufacturers Rosvoorouzhenie until they can rectify the glitches in the SU-30 MKIs, the Indian Express newspaper said.
Rosvoorouzhenie sent a team to New Delhi Thursday to hold talks with top defence and air force officials including IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, the report said.
The IAF has an operational fleet of 28 SU-30 MKI jets and its air defence fighter variant SU-30 K, the report said. The first batch introduced in June
A 100-billion rupee (two-billion dollar) deal was signed between India and Russia in the mid-1990s for the delivery of 120 SU-30 MKIs from Russia.
Another 140 aircraft were to be manufactured under licence in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
The Indian Express, quoting unnamed sources, said the aircraft began to experience a high rate of engine failure.
Engines are usually overhauled after about 300 hours of flying but the IAF found most of the SU-30 MKIs engines had to be withdrawn early.
Indian sources quoted by the paper said the problem lay in the interpretation of the contract. The Russians said the engine would last the contracted number of hours under “normal” conditions but the Indians had put the aircraft through manoeuvres that shortened the length of flying hours before overhaul, the report said.
Officials said some sort of compromise would have to be reached as further research and development on the engine would cost too much for the cash strapped Russian aircraft manufacturer, the report said.
Russia was India's main defence supplier during the Cold War years and still accounts for more than 70 percent of the military hardware used by India, although New Delhi has increasingly been looking to Europe, Israel and the United States for defence equipment.
