Russian Ambassador Details Terms of Su-57 Deal Being Considered by India

Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov has detailed the terms on which the country is willing to offer its Su-57 fifth generation fighter, at a time when a landmark procurement deal is widely reported to be under consideration to equip the Indian Air Force. “We are offering our own fifth generation fighter. We have the best machine, Sukhoi-57. We just showed it, displayed it at Aero India last month in Bangalore. It is very competitive,” the ambassador stated. “We are offering not only to sell but to co-produce. We offer technology sharing. We offer industry with creation of necessary industrial facilities for production. We are open to configuration changes. So this is a very lucrative deal that we offer to India,” he added, expressing confidence that Russia was “in a very good position” to market the fighter. He statement was made hours after Russian state arms export conglomerate Rosoboronexport announced that India could could quickly begin license production of the Su-57 through modernisation of the existing production line in the country for the older Su-30MKI ‘4+ generation’ fighter, of which at least 222 were built in the country.

Following the Su-57’s debut appearance in India at the Air India 2025 aerospace exhibition in February, it was confirmed that a license production deal was under consideration. India is at risk of being one of the last nuclear weapons states to field a fifth generation fighter, with the United States, United Kingdom, and the former’s nuclear sharing partners in NATO procuring F-35s, while Pakistan is poised to field Chinese FC-31 fighters by 2029, and North Korea continues to show an interest in the Su-57. This leaves only India and France without clear paths to a fifth generation capability. Russia has significantly increased the production of the Su-57 in recent years, with output per year rising from six fighters in 2022 to 12 fighters in 2023, and reportedly reaching 20 in 2024. Large scale procurements have the potential to revolutionise the capabilities of India’s frontline fighter units, with the Su-57’s advanced network centric warfare capabilities allowing it to serve as a force multiplier for MiG-29UPG and Su-30MKI fighters and S-400 ground based air defence systems as well as other networked assets.