After Air Chief, PV Naik, saw the fifth generation fighter aircraft flight in Russia last month, on Tuesday secretary of defence production, RK Singh, was given a flight demonstration of the PAK-FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation).
The PAK-FA is the Russian fifth generation fighter, which has had two prototypes flown, after it made its debut last year, while the Indian version of the FGFA (fifth generation fighter aircraft) is yet to take-off. India and Russia signed a preliminary agreement last December, here (signed by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-HAL and Russia’s Rosoboronexport), for the development of the draft engineering design of the prospective multi-role fighter-FGFA.
The Indian delegation headed by Singh is at Russia’s Gromov Flight Research Institute’s airfield, to get a first-hand feel of the flying qualities of the aircraft, which were demonstrated to them.
President of United Aircraft Company (UAC), CEO of Sukhoi Company and MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation, Mikhail Pogosyan, represented the Russian side. Indian HAL and Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau are making the Indian FGFA, which is expected to fly in 2017.
The FGFA is the largest programme between India and Russia in the area of military-technical cooperation, which was initially agreed upon on October 18, 2007 between both countries to cooperate on development and manufacture.
The Indian FGFA will be designed and developed on the basis of the Russian PAK-FA, though the IAF has demanded its aircraft to be a twin-seater, unlike the Russian PAK-FA, which is a single-seater, therefore the price of the Indian aircraft will be more than its Russian counterpart. The PAK-FA’s two prototypes have completed 70 flights so far.
