On the anvil: 5th generation Super Sukhois

The upgradation of the existing fleet of the Sukhoi-30MKI jets of the Indian Air Force, will enhance them with fifth generation fighter technology, thereby making them Super Sukhoi fighters.

Alexey Fedorov, chief of the Sukhoi-making Russian company, Irkut, said at the recently concluded biennial airshow -- MAKS-2011 -- in Zhukovsky near Moscow, that the Sukhoi upgradation has two components, for which technical negotiations are on. One includes the modernisation of the aircraft to fit the BrahMos missile's air version on it, and the other is to upgrade the existing five Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons of the IAF.

Approximately, 100 Su-30MKI aircraft are divided into five squadrons, and the IAF plans to have about 270 of these aircraft in the long run.

These upgraded Super Sukhois will have a better lifecycle engine, be fitted with a modern glass cockpit, and the aircraft will be able to carry more weapons with a larger range. Fedorov said the number of aircraft the IAF wants upgraded, will be done, beginning with the current fleet.

About the radar, the Super Sukhois are likely to be installed with the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, made by the Russian Tikhomirov's NIIP.

Test pilot Yury Vaschuk, who made the first public flight of the Sukhoi-35 fighter jet at the airshow, said, "The IAF's Su-30MKI upgrade will bring the aircraft close to the Su-35 aircraft, which already has fifth generation features." Vaschuk, who has clocked 70 hours on the Su-35, said both the Su-30 and Su-35 belonged to the Su-27 family, from which originated the fifth generation fighter, called the PAK-FA/T-50, which also debuted at the MAKS airshow this year. The Su-35 is a twin-engined, single cockpit, multi-role aircraft with a digital fly-by-wire controls.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman Ashok Nayak said there was no progress on the Sukhoi upgrade, and it was yet to be finalised.

Refusing to divulge the exact amount on the upgrade, Fedorov said it was a large programme and would run into several billions of dollars, and that it was likely to be concluded in this financial year. Russia hopes to start the upgradation in 2012 and finish the first aircraft by 2014.  

Also, those manufactured under licence by HAL will be upgraded. Discussions are on to finalise the upgradation of different types of aircraft, said Fedorov.