Sukhoi Su-30MKI

If the Russians don't offer top of the line stuff, the IAF will simply refuse to accept it . Besides as of today the Russians are desperate to sell their defense equipment especially since CAATSA was passed by Congress.

Admittedly as far as the 5th Gen FA is concerned we are in a desperate situation too which makes me wonder if the Export variant Russia is offering will be up to the mark.

Hope that's taken into account else it'd be a case of half a morsel is better than none.
South block said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1988755857866387470
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Rune said:
Lol that guy is some factory line worker at UAC. He is a nobody.
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People are quoting any random UAC employee or ex-employee and then state that is a credible source. I have three 'reasonable' sources in OSINT (all ex-employees or close to the company) that give three ranges for PL-15/PL-15E. Whom am I supposed to believe? It is best to ignore these 'screenshots' and 'flyers' floating around.
 
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Gautam said:
Some chatter going on about how the Su-30s sent to Spain for the recent exercise are equipped with SDRs & SATCOMs. Looking at the pics closely, one can see the antennae just ahead of the nose wheel well & also in the spine of the aircraft:
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Some other photos from the recent past didn't have these antennae:
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Some other photos from the recent past didn't have these antennae:
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20251114_090610.jpg20251114_090620.jpg20251114_090616.jpgFor reference, even the Su-30MKIs that went for Ex Garuda (16-25 Nov 2025) were equipped with SDRs
 
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marich01 said:
We have a large nose cone radome X band tendered out by LRDE , 6 nos for an airborne platform
something about the V word upgrade ;) cos Su30 radome dia is about 1050mm

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Interestingly, the radome doesn't appear to have a pitot tube (which is awesome!). This would be in line with global practice. No AESA equipped Western jet has a nose pitot tube. The J-16 doesn't either.

Will provide much better FoV for Virupaksha.
 
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Subgradewalker said:
Can you please elaborate Gautam. How much does this improves Su-30 for us. Impact on its role and anything else.

I will ofcourse google, read some papers.. but would love to get a quick pov of an expert like you. Thank you
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SDR that is shown is B-NET which is as advance SDR you can get anywhere. It forms the core of MKI's net-centric warfare whilst tagging seamlessly with AFNET & IACCS. Since it's an ad-hoc network, it is literally impregnable and MKI can shoot at enemies maintaing full EMCON without enemy ELINT sniffing its data transfer/position. It enables MKI to do 5th gen warfare.

SATCOM is something even more impressive. It allows MKI to uplink and downlink data from our own NavIC system of satellites along with other dedicated military satellites. Rest, I would not like to reveal anything more;)
 
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Shan said:
People are quoting any random UAC employee or ex-employee and then state that is a credible source. I have three 'reasonable' sources in OSINT (all ex-employees or close to the company) that give three ranges for PL-15/PL-15E. Whom am I supposed to believe? It is best to ignore these 'screenshots' and 'flyers' floating around.
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Absolutely. Anyone who says that Algeria is more important to Russia than India need not to be taken seriously.

For Vladimir Putin, after Russia, no country is more vital for Russia than India itself. Still remember when he called himself India's best friend during his first term and first visit to India circa 2000. Still remember the huge MKI deal for license manufacturing of 140 jets, T-90 tanks and Admiral Gorshkov deal during his first visit.

This 2025 year visit also would be historic like his first one to India, me thinks;)
 
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Rajput Lion said:
SDR that is shown is B-NET which is as advance SDR you can get anywhere. It forms the core of MKI's net-centric warfare whilst tagging seamlessly with AFNET & IACCS. Since it's an ad-hoc network, it is literally impregnable and MKI can shoot at enemies maintaing full EMCON without enemy ELINT sniffing its data transfer/position. It enables MKI to do 5th gen warfare.

SATCOM is something even more impressive. It allows MKI to uplink and downlink data from our own NavIC system of satellites along with other dedicated military satellites. Rest, I would not like to reveal anything more;)
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I'm not sure we have developed a miniaturized satcom antenna for fighter applications yet. Perhaps a derivative of the one on Tapas would fit the bill?
 
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Rajput Lion said:
Here is the official spec of Item 177S that is being offered for MKI UPG.
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Has it even flown yet? Until then, it's vapourware. India would need to bear the cost for the programme's completion and the engine's integration with the Su-57'E' (not M, mind you). Only the Russophiles celebrate unchecked channeling of Indian money to rescue failed Russian programmes, instead of putting the same cash into indigenous R&D/programmes.

Rajput Lion said:
If Russians are ready to share full source-code access along with know how and know why, then we should definitely get this engine for our UPG. program
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Ask yourself this: if India were to offer Tejas to some country like Philippines, Brazil or Armenia and they asked for "full source code access along with know-how and know why", do you think the Indian side will oblige by their request? Answering this question will answer the question of Russian (or any other nation's) willingness to transfer cutting edge tech/source code for a wad of cash.
 
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YoungWolf said:
Ask yourself this: if India were to offer Tejas to some country like Philippines, Brazil or Armenia and they asked for "full source code access along with know-how and know why", do you think the Indian side will oblige by their request? Answering this question will answer the question of Russian (or any other nation's) willingness to transfer cutting edge tech/source code for a wad of cash.
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Depends on how big the order is and how desperate we are to sell.
 
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Rajput Lion said:
Here is the official spec of Item 177S that is being offered for MKI UPG. If Russians are ready to share full source-code access along with know how and know why, then we should definitely get this engine for our UPG. program, IMO:

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Source:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1990040663052992794
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Modern 5th gen design?
Its al41 with better mbto and service life due to use of better materials derived from al51 development program, its architecture, T/W, performance are same as al41 and are all in realm of mid-late 4th gen western engine design.

And with these new materials derived from al51 program, its mbto and service is only now starting to match later 4th gen engines like f414 Of US.

So whether in terms of performance, mtbo, service life etc it as comparable to late 4th gen jet engines of US like f414.
The only thing supposed 5th gen in it, its afterburner nozzel with serrated design for stealth.

And given US itself is willing to give 70-80% manufacturing tot for f414, seeing how US already has 5th gen engine in service and now moving towards 6th gen architecture.

Russia giving full both know why and know how of this engine is not far fetched, Especially now al51 has gone into production.
 
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babablacksheep said:
Modern 5th gen design?
Its al41 with better mbto and service life due to use of better materials derived from al51 development program, its architecture, T/W, performance are same as al41 and are all in realm of mid-late 4th gen western engine design.

And with these new materials derived from al51 program, its mbto and service is only now starting to match later 4th gen engines like f414 Of US.

So whether in terms of performance, mtbo, service life etc it as comparable to late 4th gen jet engines of US like f414.
The only thing supposed 5th gen in it, its afterburner nozzel with serrated design for stealth.

And given US itself is willing to give 70-80% manufacturing tot for f414, seeing how US already has 5th gen engine in service and now moving towards 6th gen architecture.

Russia giving full both know why and know how of this engine is not far fetched, Especially now al51 has gone into production.
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AL-41F1? Nope. Both these engines are derived from Type-30 though in AL-31FP size. AL-41F1 has 4-stage low compressor while AL-51F1, 177 & 177S have just 3 stage low compressor. It's the most advance Russian engine that is optimized for 1.5 Mach supercruise, 6000hrs life and below 0.67 SFC. All these three are proper game-changing 5th gen engines.

If Russians give us full IP along with know how and know why, they procuring 177 or 177S for MKI UPG. and Su-57I/MKI makes perfect sense.
 
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