Russia and India sitting in a tree….

With multiple reports claiming that Russia and India have formerly agreed to develop and produce a new fifth gen tactical combat aircraft and aditionally growing sales of Russian equipment and technology to India, what have these two regional (and, in the case of Russia; global) nuclear powers got in mind for the future? Obvioulsy Russia cannot finance a fifth gen fighter on its own (at least not in the near future) and India cannot possibly hope to field a succesful 5th gen aircraft technologically they seem like perfect partners but with a large degree of commonality and excercises reportedly on the way there can we expect a proxy alliance between arguably the most powerful nations in Asia? Where will this leave China? etc…

Also, this new aircraft is going to be what? Another derivative of the Su-27 series? A completely new aircraft? A combination of new technology and previously tried and tested techniques? Are the Indians going to input any technology or is their contribution purely financial? When can we expect prototypes to start buzzing around the skies of Akhtubinsk?

I welcome all opinions, so long as they are constructive and intelligent.

Tahanks,

Ivan