Russia is ready to hold a dialogue with India on the deliveries of Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets to India, Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy at the state hi-tech corporation Rostec Viktor Kladov told TASS on Monday.
“On our part, we are ready to continue the deliveries of generation 4+ and 4++ planes and for the work on the delivery of fifth-generation aircraft. At the same time, Russia’s Air Force is a top priority for us. The plane [the latest Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet] has been tested in combat conditions in Syria and its deliveries to the Russian troops have begun,” the Rostec official said.
India displays interest in the Su-57 but the country needs to shape its further concept of the Air Force, Kladov said.
“The Indian Air Force should determine how much this plane fits into their general concept, what their focus should be and on what money should be spent – on acquiring several models of the next-generation aircraft or on building up significantly the number of reliable Su-30MKI planes well known to Indian pilots,” the Rostec official said.
Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Anatoly Punchuk said at the Aero India 2019 air show that India had filed a request for the delivery of 21 light MiG-29 fighter jets.
Russia earlier supplied over 200 Su-30MKI multirole fighter jets while the Kommersant daily reported in early February, citing the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, that India had filed a new request for aircraft sets to assemble these planes.
The Su-57 is a fifth-generation multirole fighter designed to destroy all types of air targets at long and short distances and hit enemy ground and naval targets, overcoming its air defense capabilities.
The Su-57 took to the skies for the first time on January 29, 2010. Compared to its predecessors, the Su-57 combines the functions of an attack plane and a fighter jet while the use of composite materials and innovation technologies and the fighter’s aerodynamic configuration ensure the low level of radar and infrared signature.
