India will join Russia in the development of a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) as well as a multirole transport aircraft (MTA). At a meeting in Delhi, the defense ministers of both countries confirmed the projects, although India has not yet signed a draft $300 million preliminary design contract for the FGFA. The MTA agreement was signed last month, when Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) each agreed to invest $300 million. India will receive 250 to 300 FGFAs, and 45 MTAs.
The fighter airframe has already been designed and flown as the Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA, so India’s involvement in development might be limited to avionics and navigation systems. Despite 10 years of discussions and previous agreements, the transport aircraft is still on the drawing board, with no confirmed powerplants, although both HAL and the Ilyushin Design Bureau have shown a series of scale models over the last decade. Ilyushin displayed the latest Russian configuration at Farnborough last July (see picture).
