Russia to start delivering Sukhois by May

Russia is to start deliveries of the final version of Sukhoi-30MKI long-range multi-role fighters to India by May-end, a top defence industry official said.

“Deliveries of the multi-role jets, specially tailored to meet India’s defence requirements well into the middle of the century, would begin simultaneously with the completion of training of the Indian pilots in Russia’s elite Zhukovsky Air Force Academy,” Director General of Irkutsk-based ‘IAPO’ aircraft factory, Alexei Fyodorov, said.

Russia will dispatch 10 fighters this year, while another 22 are to be delivered next year, Fyodorov said.

Under the deal for 50 aircraft signed in November 1998, Russia has already delivered 18 Su-30K fighters, which would be upgraded to MKI in 2004 with the simultaneous production of 140 fighters by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under license.

The final version of Su-30, known as MKI (Multi-role Commercial for India) is equivalent to Su-37 under development for the Russian Air Force, and has a clear edge over MKK, the version being supplied to China, Dr Vaskin, a Russian defence expert, said.

“This is the reason why China is now asking for Su-37 from Russia,” Dr Ruslan Pukhov of the Centre for Strategic Analysis, a Moscow-based independent think tank, added