There is one thing special about Indian military programs that I want to point out. On and Off, Up and Down is a norm in India than any other major powers. Abandoning FGFA is nothing out of that norm, therefor should not be seen as some thing specially bad for Su-57. The MRCA dragged for 17 years since the initial requirement in 2001 with eventually Rafale deal signed and killed. With that in mind, I don't see anything special this time. And I am pretty sure other program won't fare any better, including F-35 (if US really want to sell it).
Russian Su-57 Aircraft Thread (PAK-FA and IAF FGFA)
- Thread starter A Bar Brother
- Start date
I would caution against taking India's claims and demands as reasonable at face value - money actually expended by India was quite modest AFAIK, and hence the level of access granted correspondingly low. Which also means Russian benefit from Indian funding was limited - I doubt the cancellation will throw the entire budget into disarray or something.
If this was any country other than India, the split might legitimately raise questions about the hardware and access involved, but frankly their defence acquisitions post 1990 have been a mess by and large. In all those years there have been only a handful of normal successes, many total disasters and only three or so that could be considered home runs (one of those, obviously, being the Su-30MKI - and even then local production turned out to be way more expensive than anticipated).
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Su-57 has conducted a test flight with two Izdeliye 30 engines. Each one has an alleged maximum wet thrust of ~176 kN.
Jura The idiot
General
LOL
yeah I think I would've heard in Russian Internet
Well, if the Indians are, in fact, out, this presents an excellent opportunity for the Chinese to get in! Hey, they purchased 24 Su-35, why not 24 Su-57 as well? What’s the price difference? If the Su-57 is supposedly half the price of the F-35, it can’t be that much more than the Su-35. According ti Wikipedia’s sources, they’re what and what (although this is somewhat incredible, to me).
Hyperwarp
Captain
Unlike the Su-35 purchase, the Su-57 purchase would be less meaningful. J-16 is the most advanced flanker interms of avionics but the Su-35 has certain capabilities the J-16 does not have (supermaneuverability, and supercruise). If the J-11D does not see the light of day, then more Su-35 would make sense. On the other hand the J-20 has a clear path ahead of it. Only need for Su-57 is if there were some sort of catastrophic failure with the WS-15 program. Otherwise it is an unnecessary duplication.
Su-57 won't be available for Chinese access for at least a few years after introduction into RuAF. Nor would China be interested in the first batch. They'll want all the bugs worked out first and by then J-20 would have matured somewhat. I can see China purchasing a couple of squadrons of Su-57 if it were definitely a VLO fighter or have certain redeeming features that makes it equal or superior to other 5th gen fighters. If not, what is the point? Su-35s are nearly as good albeit more easily detected.