State-owned HAL could see a respite in its drought of orders for manufacturing fighter aircraft. A top Russian official said Russia and India were negotiating a deal for an additional batch of 18 Su-30 MKI fighters.
"We have received an official request from the IAF for 18 more kits just in January this year. We are preparing a commercial offer," Anatoly G Punchuk, Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation told media persons at the Aero India 2019 air show in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Punchuk did not confirm the cost of the order but sources estimate it could be worth half the price of the last order for Su-30MKIs from Russia. Approximately Rs 17,246 crore order for an additional 42 Su-30MKIs was issued by the IAF in May 2011 and ordered in 2012.
The approximately Rs 8000 crore order will keep HAL's Su-30 division in Ozar busy for at least three more years. The Su-30 MKI is an aircraft developed specifically for the IAF in 2003 and license-built at HAL's Ozar division. Russia has supplied 222 kits of Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft of which 187 aircraft have been built so far. HAL is currently producing its last batch of 40 Su-30MKIs, a Rs 15,180 crore order all of which will be delivered to the IAF by next year. After that, there will have no further orders.
With the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas slow to get acceptance, the 272 Su-30MKI fighter jets will continue to be the backbone of IAF for the next decade. The progressive upgrade of its existing fleet of Su-30MKIs is now assuming importance given the IAF's dwindling fighter fleet.
It has 32 fighter squadrons against a requirement of 42 squadrons. In 2010, the IAF had issued a Rs10,200 cr Request for Proposals (RFP) for the mid-life upgrade of 84 units of its Su-30MKIs into the 'Super-30' configuration featuring Active Electronically Steered (AESA) radars, new mission computers, updated engines and avionics.
Talks went into a limbo because Russia's asking price exceeded the IAF's budget. The Su-30MKI upgrade offer was reiterated during the high level meeting between the Indian PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. A Russian spokesperson confirmed that talks for the upgrade were on but did not provide any details of the discussions.