samlove
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According to latest media report, Indian air force is contemplating ordering 3 Squadrons of Russian variant of 5th generation fighter jet off the shelf while negotiation to develop Customized variant based dubbed Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).
Indian air force had projected requirements of 8 Squadrons (144 aircrafts) of FGFA, but constant delays in drafting final $11billionresearch and development (R&D) agreement for FGFA which have been dragging on for years now due to disagreements over Price and work share agreements have already led to considerable delays in the project.
If IAF sticks to its plans to buy around 65 Pak-Fa aircraft, with 18 each for three squadrons and the rest for training due to dwindling fighter jet fleet, it will also means lower number of FGFA will be built in India, will led to higher cost of procurement of FGFA since it involves complex transfer of technology and development of Indian specific requirements unless IAF plans much larger order for FGFA or IAF is planning only minimal changes in Indian variant which will be developed in India over the years with little or no transfer of technology .
Media report also indicated that IAF wants to trim its military imports and reduce expenditure and wants to make FGFA development a long-term effort to reduce research cost and improve the aircraft simultaneously.
FGFA was also one of the projects which could have provided Indian Aerospace engineers exposures to work on such advanced and complex fighter jet but to dwindling work share agreement which now has come down to less than 15 % and parallel development of India’s 5th generation fighter jet AMCA which could have benefited the indigenous project immensely if the project had taken off few years ago also have diminished since India already has started work on AMCA which is now making FGFA project less attractive since it will make little contribution to Indian aerospace Industries .
By dumping FGFA project, India will have enough funds to initiate Super-30 upgrade program for front-line fighter jet Sukhoi-30MKI and will also free up funds for Purchase of Rafale or other MMRCA type fighter.
