Major Shaitan Singh
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2010
- Messages
- 3,550
- Reaction score
- 43
- Country
- Location
Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics, T Suvarna Raju in an interaction with media confirmed that around 160 Sukhoi-30’s have been delivered to Indian air force till March 2015 which have been build from Raw material stage.
Russia initially had supplied 50 Sukhoi’s out of which 18 aircrafts were Su-30MKs which were returned to Russia and were later replaced by modern Su-30MKIs.
HAL has promised 2019 deadline to deliver remaining jets to India air force and has increased Production capability and has been delivering 15 aircraft per year lately.
Production timeline saw two-and-a-half-year delay from the 2016-17 target that was set when the contract was signed with Russia in 2000 due to delays in transfer of technology and delays in Indigenisation of many components in India.
IAF’s total order of sukhoi-30MKI stands at 272 aircrafts. IAF had added Two aircrafts for early attrition suffered but since then IAF has lost 4 more su-30s including last Su-30 aircraft which was lost in Assam. IAF likely will take a call on small order for Su-30s as Attrition replacement to aircrafts lost in the spate of recent crashes.
HAL chairman asserted that the experience and expertise gained through the programme meant that HAL could very barely be considered an OEM for the type. HAL recently completed indigenous overhauling of sukhoi-30 in its Nashik plant and will offer its services to other Aircraft type operators in the region.