India Weighs Russia's SU-57 Offer Against AMCA
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- Vladimir Putin offered India joint production of the SU-57 with "no issues or limitations" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5, reviving a partnership India walked away from years ago.
- The Indian Air Force fields only 29 fighter squadrons against a sanctioned 42, and none of the 180 LCA-Mk1A jets ordered in batches in 2021 and 2025 have been delivered yet.
- China now operates at least 300 J-20 stealth fighters with J-35s entering service, and has signed an initial agreement to supply J-35s to Pakistan, India's recent adversary in the four-day Operation Sindoor conflict of May 2025.
- India has launched procurement of 114 Rafale jets from France and issued the AMCA Request For Proposal to three industry bids at end-May, backing its indigenous fifth-generation platform with roughly $1.8 billion and a 2035 target.
- A new Russian deal would divert funding and engineering focus from the AMCA while locking India into four-to-five-decade dependency on the original equipment manufacturer, according to the article's cost-benefit framing.
- India's continued defense ties with Russia — underscored by its 2018 S-400 deal and the subsequent CAATSA waiver — now collide with US engine dependence for both the LCA and AMCA prototypes, putting strategic autonomy to the test.
- The earlier FGFA program collapsed after India and Russia each spent $295 million on a preliminary design running from February 2011 to June 2013, with cost and technology-access disputes cited; a twin-seat SU-57 variant is now in Russian trials.
Why it matters: The IAF's 29-squadron shortfall is widening while China fields 300+ J-20s and now arms Pakistan with J-35s, and accepting Russia's offer would compete directly with the $1.8 billion AMCA program — the only path to a domestic fifth-generation jet. India is also dependent on US engines for the LCA and AMCA prototypes, so deepening defense ties with Moscow carries tangible costs to its American relationship at a moment of Trump-era policy uncertainty.
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