The Indian Air Force (IAF) has issued a tender to the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the purchase of 12 advanced Su-30MKI fighter jets.
Notably, these will be manufactured in India by the HAL in partnership with the Russian original equipment manufacturers.
HAL is expected to respond to the tender by next month with details of the project along with other details.
The aircraft would include a high percentage of indigenous content as per the requirement of the Indian Air Force in line with the Aatmanirbhar policies of the government in the defence sector.
To be noted that these would be one of the modern Su-30MKI fighter jets of the IAF, equipped with multiple Indian weapons and sensors.
Besides, the IAF is also working on a project to upgrade the fleet of Sukhoi-30 fighter aircrafts under an ambitious project that will see 84 of its planes get upgraded with indigenous weapon systems, advanced radars and avionics.
The project is planned to be completed with the HAL indigenously and it will also position us well for the upgrade of similar aircraft in foreign countries, they said.
India has a fleet of 272 Su-30 fighter jets, which have been procured in different tranches by the service since the early 2000s.
The aircraft have already been upgraded by integrating Indian systems and weapons like the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the Astra air-to-air missile.
Source: https://aninews.in/
