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Modernising its fighter jet fleet, the Indian Air Force is going to upgrade its SU-30 MKI combat aircraft with the help of Russia. "As part of IAF's modernisation programme, we are going to upgrade 50 Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft with help of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from Russia," Defence Ministry sources said. "Su-30 MKIs have been inducted into the IAF in four phases. The ones to be upgraded are from the first phase and the project is likely to be completed in the next three to four years," they added. Of the 50 aircraft, around five would be sent to the...

Russian and Chinese weapons manufacturers are clashing head on within the international arms market as China’s new fighter jet seems to be a cheaper imitation of the Russian original. The deal is facing opposition from Russian aircraft manufacturers, such as Mikhail Pogosyan, the head of the MiG and Sukhoi aviation holding, who said that the FC-1 is extremely close, if not the same, as the Russian-made MiG-29. Pogosyan claimed that FC-1 is a direct competitor to Russia's MiG-29 and the deal would incur losses for the Russian manufacturers. A source quoted by the Kommersant newspaper said there are significant price...

Russian fighter jets make first ever nonstop flight across Russia to Far East Russian fighter jets have performed the first ever nonstop flights from European Russia to the Russian Far East with in-flight refueling as part of the Vostok-2010 military drills, Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov said on Sunday. "For the first time ever, we have tested a possibility for fighter jets to fly from aerodromes in the European part of Russia to eastern airfields in the Far Eastern district without landing, with in-flight refueling and the delivery of strikes according to assignments received during the flight," Makarov...

As RIA Novosti reports, the Russian Defense Ministry will hold talks during an international engineering forum near Moscow with France's Sagem Defense Securite on the possible purchase of a Sigma 30 inertial navigation system. The Engineering Technologies International Forum 2010 will be held from June 30 through July 4 in the town of Zhukovsky, 40 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Earlier this month, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin invited the French-based Sagem company (SAFRAN group), a European leader in defense and consumer electronics, for talks in Moscow. Popovkin said Russia is interested in purchasing the Sigma 30 artillery navigation and...

a high-profile visit to view what is Russia’s first “low-observable” aircraft, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin watched the prototype Sukhoi T-50 being put through its paces at the Zhukovsky flight test research center near Moscow and got a tour of the new aircraft’s cockpit June 17. The T-50 is being developed to meet the Russian air force’s PAK FA requirement for a multirole fighter to replace the Su-27 Flanker. It has logged about 16 flights, say U.S. officials, first flying Jan. 29. (AW&ST Feb. 8, p. 30). The initial stage of state testing of the aircraft is presently due for completion...

Russia plans to offer its advanced fighter-jets at a cost far below those of its Western counterparts. Officials said Russia would offer fifth generation fighters for one-third of the cost of comparable Western aircraft. They said Russia was developing fighters that would be superior to current European and U.S. aircraft. "It will be a machine superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in maneuverability, armament and range," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. On June 17, Putin toured a Russian aerospace facility that was developing and testing a fighter-jet prototype, designed to have a shelf life of up to 35...

The Cabinet Committee on Security earlier this month quietly cleared one of the biggest defence orders of recent times. The almost Rs 15,000 crore order for an additional 42 Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters would add up the total number of these modern Russian fighters for Indian Air Force to 272. When the entire Sukhoi-30 MKIs, including the 42, are delivered to IAF by around 2018, it would become the single largest type of fighters in service, marking a huge technological transition from the dominance of MIG-21 fighters today senior official said the CCS cleared the new order in the first week...

Russia's government said last week that China's prototype J-15 jet fighter is a pirated copy of the Sukhoi Su-33 fighter bomber, highlighting China's continued reverse-engineering and technology acquisition piracy. Russia’s Novyy Region news agency reported June 4 that Chinese engineers have assembled the first prototype of the J-15, an advanced warplane considerd a “fourth-generation deck-based fighter.” “The copy was developed on the basis of one of the first Sukhoy prototypes — the Soviet-era T10K experimental aircraft, which China received from Ukraine in 2005,” the report said. “Earlier, Beijing tried to purchase two Su-33 aircraft from the Russian Federation, but Moscow...

A wing of latest Russian Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers has successfully accomplished a non-stop 6-thousand-kilometre test flight from the region of Lipetsk south of Moscow to the region of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. The Sukhoi-34’s predecessor in the niche, the Sukhoi-24, cannot fly further than 3 thousand kilometres. The Sukhoi-34 is a two-seater with a length of 22 metres and a wingspan of 14.7 metres. The maximum speed is 19 hundred kilometres an hour.

The Sukhoi “Flanker” is recognised today as one of the world’s best multi-role fighters. and is the first serially produced combat aircraft featuring super-maneuverability and the first export fighter in the world fitted with the onboard AESA radar. In 2009 IRKUT Corporation successfully fulfilled the contracts for the delivery of the Su-30MK-type fighters to both Algeria and Malaysia and has since delivered Su-30MKI to India and also supplies Su-30MKI technical kits for license production by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Corporation. All these countries ordered more than 300 aircraft with over 150 already delivered. The Algerian additional order was negotiated earlier...

Russia's Defense Ministry will order at least 50 fifth-generation fighters from 2016, a senior official said on Thursday. "At the first stage, there will be dozens of planes, more than 50," said Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister for arms procurement. He was on hand as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin observed the test flight of a prototype fighter and later talked to the pilot, Sergei Bogdan, who said it was the fighter's 16th test flight and more would follow shortly. Popovkin said that based on the outcome of initial tests, the Defense Ministry would purchase the first six to 10...

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin climbed into the cockpit of Russia's newest fighter jet on Thursday and said it would trump a U.S.-built rival, the F-22 Raptor. Putin watched a test flight of a "fifth-generation" stealth fighter, dubbed the T-50 and billed as Russia's first all-new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. "This machine will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range," Putin told the pilot after the flight, according to an account on the government website. Putin said the plane would cost up to three times less than...

Russia's Defense Ministry will order at least 50 fifth-generation fighters from 2016, a senior official said on Thursday. "At the first stage, there will be dozens of planes, more than 50," said Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister for arms procurement. He was on hand as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin observed the test flight of a prototype fighter and later talked to the pilot, Sergei Bogdan, who said it was the fighter's 16th test flight and more would follow shortly. Popovkin said that based on the outcome of initial tests, the Defense Ministry would purchase the first six to 10...

Russia's 5G fighter to be '3 times cheaper than foreign analogs' 16:26 17/06/2010 Russia's fifth generation fighter will be about three times as cheap as its foreign analog, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. He observed the test flight of a prototype fighter and later talked to the pilot, Sergei Bogdan. "It will be a machine superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in maneuverability, armament and range," Putin said. "Also in morale," the pilot added. "Above all else," Putin said smiling. Bogdan said it was the fighter's 16th test flight and more would follow shortly. The prime...

Russian aircraft holding Sukhoi has no plans to sign additional agreements creating a joint venture with its Indian partners in the production of a fifth-generation fighter, the general director said on Friday. Russian Sukhoi holding and Indian Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) agreed in early 2010 to jointly develop a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet. Sukhoi head Mikhail Pogosyan had said that an additional agreement would be signed specifying the Indian role in the project, but on Friday he said that the Russian company hoped work would begin soon without any such deal. "We don't plan to sign a joint venture. We...

For the first time ever, the Indian Air Force’s SU-30 MKI will be participating in a joint exercise in France early next week. The two air forces will be joined by the Singaporean Air Force with its American-origin Block 52 F-16s. As another first, IAF’s Garuda Special Forces will be taking part in the Indo-French Garuda series air-to-air exercises in France. During the exercise, the French Air Force will field its Mirage 2000 and Rafael fighter aircraft, which are currently competing for the $10-bn deal to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft to the IAF. An IAF contingent of 230...

China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation created a copy of a Russian deck-based Su-33 fighter jet. The Chinese model of the aircraft was called J-15, Interfax reports with reference to the May issue of the Kanwa Asian Defence military publication. The Chinese fighter jet is based on the Soviet T10K training aircraft, which China received from Ukraine. Chinese engineers found it very difficult to solve the problem of folding wings of deck-based fighter jets. Now the problem has been solved. It is not clear yet, if the new plane has performed its first flight yet: the Chinese Air Force does not have...

China's J-15 carrier-based fighter will not be able to compete with Russia's Su-33 fighter on global markets because it is inferior to the Russian aircraft, a Russian military analyst said on Friday. China since 2001 has been developing the J-15 naval fighter, which is believed to be a clone of Russia's Su-33 Falcon-D. China bought an Su-33 prototype earlier from Ukraine, and used it to develop the new aircraft. The J-15 is expected to be stationed initially onboard the Chinese Varyag aircraft carrier currently being fitted in the port of Dalian. China bought the unfinished Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier...

Russia will supply Su-30 Flanker fighters and Yak-130 Mitten trainer/light attack jets to Algeria in 2011, the deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation, Vyacheslav Dzirkalin, said. "The delivery of Su-30s and Yak-130s [to Algeria] is due to begin next year, this is no military secret," Dzirkalin said. Earlier in April, the head of Russian Technologies state Corporation, Sergei Chemezov, in an interview with the Novaya Gazeta weekly said Russia would ship to Algeria "a party of modern Russian fighters" at a price of about $1 billion. Dzirkalin did not specify the number of aircraft to...

Algeria's defense ministry plans to cut arms purchases from the United States because of lengthy delivery delays and concentrate on Russian weapons systems, the El Khabar newspaper reports. Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has signed two contracts worth $1.2 billion to deliver 16 Sukhoi Su-30 multi-role fighters to Algeria and six to Uganda, Russia Veomosti daily reported Monday. The Irkut Corp., part of Russia's United Aircraft Corp., says it has delivered 28 Su-30MKA jets to Algeria, customized to meet Algerian specifications, since 2006. There was no immediate confirmation by Algeria authorities of Monday's report in El Khabar. Two years ago,...