IAF to replace Su-30Ks with Su-30MKIs

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Irkut to Sign New Contract for Su-30 Delivery to India

The president of the Irkut corporation, Oleg Demchenko, has announced that a contract for the delivery to India of 18 Su-30MKI multirole fighters “will be signed in the next 2 weeks.” He specified that the delivery will be realized according to a “trade-in” system, which assumed that India will return to the corporation the Su-30K fighters being used in this country at the present time for in exchange for the airplanes being delivered. Mr. Demchenko declined to report the cost of the contract being prepared. In the opinion of the deputy director for the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Konstantin Makienko, the total cost of the contract may be nearly 700 million dollars. According to unofficial information, the Su-30K fighters obtained from India will be upgraded and subsequently delivered to Byelorussia. The Su-30MKI airplanes were developed to India’s air force requirements and have been delivered to this country. In 2004, deliver of 40 aircraft of this class to India was completed. In all, 140 multirole fighters will be built. It is planned to lift the aircraft into the sky fully manufactured by Indian specialists at approximately the end of 2007.

Source: 26.05.06, Kommersant-Khabarovsk