War in Ukraine stalls IAF’s programme to expand and upgrade its Su-30MKI fighter fleet

Vishal Thapar May 09, 2022

The fallout of the Russian War in Ukraine has forced India to put on hold its multi-billion programme to expand and upgrade its frontline Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft fleet, agencies have reported.

The plan for the upgrade of 85 Su-30 MKI fighters is now on the backburner because of the preoccupation of the Russian Military Industrial Complex with the ongoing war and the threat of Western sanctions for deals with Russia.

The upgrade programme involved a collaboration between Russia’s Sukhoi and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to scale up the capability of the fighters.

It entailed retrofitting the fighter with more powerful radars, the latest electronic warfare capabilities and to making it capable of firing Indian-made weapons.

A related programme to build 12 more Su-30 MKI fighters under licence at HAL’s Nasik Division for an estimated Rs 20,000 Crore ($ 2.6 Billion) is also learnt to be now in deep freeze.

Part of the reason is the curtailment of Russian defence exports and the other is the Indian insistence on a greater Make in India element in line with its current policy of scaling up self-reliance in Defence requirements by raising a domestic Defence Industrial Complex which can deliver world class weaponry.

As many as 272 Su-30 MKIs have been ordered by the IAF since the late-1990s and the Russian-designed fighter has been for long the mainstay and spearhead of the IAF’s fighter arm.

Most of the IAF Su-30 MKIs have been made under licence at HAL Nasik under a manufacturing transfer of technology.

The drying up of the supply of military spares from Russia because of the ongoing situation is also causing logistical strains in India. Almost 70 per cent of military equipment used by the Indian armed forces is of Russian origin, which has created a severe dependency.

Concerns over shortage of spares for Russian equipment are shared by all three services. Use of some of the equipment has been reduced to conserve spares. Military sources, however, insist that the Indian armed forces are well stocked up with spares. Large consignments had been procured since 2020 in view of the border stand-off with China.