Sukhoi announced this week that the “design and development” (D&D) phase of the Russo-Indian prospective multifunctional fighter (PMF), also known as the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), has been completed. The aircraft is a joint development with India of the T-50 that Sukhoi has already designed and flown for the Russian Air Force. “The airplane has been shaped completely,” the manufacturer stated.
According to Sukhoi, the Russian and Indian sides have agreed, specified and allocated the further work that they will accomplish in the next “research and development” (R&D) phase. A contract for this phase is expected later this year, “upon completion of preparatory work.” In practical terms, placing the R&D contract is the “make or break” point for the Indian government.
India and Russia signed a government-to-government framework agreement for the FGFA in October 2007. The next move followed in December 2010, when Russian arms import/export organization Rosoboronexport, and its contractors Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), signed the D&D contract, under which Sukhoi trained a number of HAL specialists and provided “input data and software packages” so that the joint Russo-Indian team could work together “in a common environment.” Since January last year, Indian specialists have been working in Russia and Russians in India.
12/04/13 Vladimir Karnozov/AIN Online
