The civil aviation landscape in South Asia is on the verge of a major structural realignment. Moving away from total reliance on western aviation giants, Indian commercial operators are shifting their attention toward Russian-made regional aircraft. Speaking ahead of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June 2026, Vadim Badekha, the chief executive officer of Russia’s state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), revealed that Indian airliners have expressed strong demand for up to 200 units of Russia’s newest commercial platforms: the SJ-100 passenger jet and the Il-114-300 regional turboprop.
Financial and aerospace analysts estimate that an acquisition of this scale could be worth approximately $5 billion. This marks India as the premier international market to show extensive interest in Russia’s newly independent, localised civil aviation models.
The burgeoning relationship between Moscow and New Delhi transcends a simple buyer-seller arrangement. A core tenet of the proposed framework involves deep technological transfer and industrial localisation under the “Make in India” paradigm.
UAC has formally partnered with state-owned defence and aerospace titan Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under a licensing framework to study the feasibility of establishing a domestic assembly line. Under this historical agreement, HAL receives the authorisation to manufacture, market, maintain, and repair the SJ-100 regional aircraft. This marks the first time since the late 1980s – following the legacy AVRO HS-748 project – that a complete passenger aircraft will be built on Indian soil.
04/06/2026 Raksha Anirveda
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