Non-Subscriber Extract
India and Russia sign deal to develop fifth-generation fighter
By Rahul Bedi
22 October 2007
India and Russia signed an agreement in Moscow on October 18 to jointly develop - in an equal financial and technical partnership - a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) with super-manoeuvrability, long-range strike and high-endurance air-defence capabilities.
Designer Sukhoi estimates that the FGFA programme, designated T-50 PAK-FA, will cost more than USD10 billion and expects the new aircraft to eventually surpass the capabilities of the US F/A-22 Raptor, the world's only operational fifth-generation fighter, and match those of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which is currently under development.
India has faced intense pressure from a cash-strapped Russia, its principal weapons supplier, to join the FGFA programme that has been under development by Sukhoi for nearly three years and is scheduled to make its maiden flight around 2009.
The Indian Air Force anticipates the FGFA fulfilling its future requirements across the spectrum of warfare from low-intensity conflict to conventional and nuclear warfare.
It envisages the FGFA as having significantly reduced radar tracking signature, high network-centricity and global information management system (GIMS) capability.
In addition to possessing a high degree of firepower through precision-guided munitions, the FGFA will also be equipped with multispectral optical, infrared, laser and radar sensors.