Russian wings in the Indian skies

For decades, India has been buying Russian aircraft, both military and civil. A number of military aircraft has been produced at Indian plants under Russian licences. The first model designed specifically for India was the SU-30MKI heavy multirole fighter (MKI stands for Modernised Commercial Indian).
The first SU-30MKI contract was signed in 1996 and was followed by new orders in 2000, 2004 and 2007. The prime contractor in Russia has been IRKUT Corporation.
SU-30MKIs were the world’s first production air superiority fighters and also the first exported military aircraft that came with phased-array radars. In fact, the SU-30MKI is the engineering zenith (among production aircraft) in design among fourth-generation heavy-duty fighters. The SU-30MKI’s external design was largely influenced by Indian engineers.
Currently, Russia supplies to India aircraft produced at the Irkutsk aviation plant and also complete sets of SU-30MKI parts to be assembled by HAL. After all the contracted aircraft have been delivered, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will have 230 SU-30MKI fighters. These aircraft have already formed the core of the IAF and are deployed in critical areas, ensuring absolute air supremacy over potential enemies. In mock dogfights IAF pilots flying SU-30MKI generally defeat modern fighters produced elsewhere.
In November of 2008, British journal Flight, a reputed industry publication, conducted a survey among its website visitors asking them to select the best fighter from a list containing the SU-30MKI, F-22 and F-15. The Russian fighter was voted for by 59 per cent of the survey participants.
In November of 2009, Indian President Pratibha Patil took a ride in a SU-30MKI. Her predecessor, Abdul Kalam, did the same in 2006.
The President of IRKUT Corporation Oleg Demchenko made the following comments on the project: “The SU-30MKI programme opened a new stage of Russian-Indian partnership in the aircraft industry. We have progressed from aircraft sales to R&D cooperation and aircraft production at HAL facilities. Note that these fighters will be armed with Russian and Indian-made BraMos missiles. This one-two punch, SU-30MKI and BraMos, will offer unrivalled combat performance.
Mikhail Pogosyan, CEO of Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company and MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation said: “Developing collaboration with the Indian aviation industry is a top priority for Russian combat aviation producers.
13/12/10 Sergei Ptichkin/Indrus.in

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2010