IAF to Induct 5th Generation Fighters in 2018

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India and Russia are making rapid progress in defence cooperation, due to India’s decision to introduce a fifth generation advanced jet into its air force with joint development. This project is likely to cause neighbouring nations, such as China, to take a re-look at their defence strategies and technological prowess.

The fifth generation fighters, which India and Russia will jointly produce, can outsmart sophisticated radars, take off from short airstrips and remain in the air longer than the current fighters with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

While India and Russia have signed the deal for the advanced jet, the companies who will produce it have not inked the deal. The project with detailed contracts will be finalised within this year. The production of the advanced jet fighter is a 50-50 joint venture between Russia and India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

According to sources, the finalisation of the contract for the joint production of the advanced jet happened over five years ago and the project itself was conceived a decade back. The contract, which HAL will sign with Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), will incorporate the building of 250 fighters for the IAF and an equal number for Russia. The option for further orders will be kept open. HAL and UAC will be equal partners in a joint venture company. In 2009, an Indian delegation consisting of Indian Air Force (IAF) officials visited Russia to witness the Sukhoi T-50, the first technology demonstrator of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).

As for the cost of the project to develop the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), it will be to the tune of $8-10 billion and this will be shared by both India and Russia. Besides, each FGFA will cost $100 million over and above the project cost. Both Russia and India have different specifications and the joint venture will cater for both air forces, producing two different, but closely related aircraft. While Russia wants a single-seat fighter; the IAF insists upon a twin-seat fighter with one pilot flying and the other handling the sensors, networks and weaponry. As for now,  India has agreed to buy a mix of about 50 single-seat and 200 twin-seat aircraft and Russia, in turn, will consider buying more twin-seat aircraft to use as trainers.

The IAF has been impressed with the stealth features of the FGFA, which includes its Radar Cross Section (RCS) of just 0.5 square metre as compared to the Su-30MKI’s RCS of about 20 square metres, implying that while a Su-30MKI would be as visible to enemy radar as a metal object 5 metres x 4 metres in dimension, the FGFA’s radar signature would be just 1/40th of that. The FGFA will be able to translate mammoth amounts of data and inputs from the fighter’s infrared, radar, and visual sensors which would be electronically combined and made available to the pilots in a user-friendly fashion.

As for the contribution in the joint development of the FGFA, HAL has negotiated firmly to get a 25 per cent share of design and development work in the FGFA programme. HAL’s work share will include critical software, including the mission computer, navigation systems, most of the cockpit displays, the counter measure dispensing (CMD) systems and modifying Sukhoi’s single-seat prototype into the twin-seat fighter that the IAF wants.

According to sources, the FGFA is expected to make its first flight this year, although it is still at a preliminary stage of development. Realistically, the FGFA will only be ready for the Forces by 2018, since it will take another 4-5 years to develop many of the FGFA’s systems. After that, it will undergo at least 2000 hours of certification flying and then some further changes and reconfiguration.

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