(New Delhi) After 11 years funding Russia to the tune of $8.63 billion in which to help develop the Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter so as to help develop their own Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft. (FGFA) The Indian Government last Friday declared that it has pulled out of the program due to it not meeting its requirements for stealth, combat avionics,
radars and sensors. Whilst several SU 57 prototypes are currently undergoing
flight-testing in Russia and Syria, there are no indications as to when it is likely to enter production.
While the Russian version is a single-pilot fighter, the Indian variant will be a 2 seat aircraft specific to Indian requirements with a much longer range and fitted out with Indian avionics and weapons . However whilst the Russian Baseline aircraft for the entire family is flying (But with no production date) there has been no sight of the Indian variant and it appears that new Delhi has said enough is enough and pulled the plug. That said the Indian Government has stated The Indian Air force could, at a later date, ‘revisit’ the FGFA project or alternatively acquire the fully developed platform once it had been inducted into the Russian Air Force.
