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India has made a final decision on the acquisition of the Su-57. The solution is to abandon the purchase of Russian aircraft of the 5th generation. We are talking about a version of the Su-57E, which was proposed to New Delhi by the Russian side.
According to Defense Security Asia, citing the Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Defense, Rajesh Kumar Singh, New Delhi is not considering the purchase of Sukhoi aircraft, including the aforementioned Su-57E.
He added that India is actively working to modernize the existing Su-30MKI, which are manufactured under license from the Russian Federation, calling this aircraft one of the most successful programs of Indian military aviation.
Russia has been actively promoting the Su-57 to the Indian market recently, offering not only sales, but also localization of production at the facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with technology transfer. In December 2025, at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the idea of joint production of up to 40 cars was discussed. However, these proposals were rejected.
Experts attribute the refusal to the negative experience of India's participation in the joint FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) program, from which the country withdrew in 2018. Then New Delhi explained this decision with claims to the characteristics of the Su-57, in particular, non-compliance with the requirements of stealth. At the same time, the Indian military still has not been able to answer the question of what exactly is wrong with the stealth of the Su-57.
Instead of purchasing fifth-generation aircraft abroad, India is going to implement its own program, AMCA. This is the first fully Indian fifth-generation fighter project, which should occupy a niche between light Tejas and heavy fighters.
The current status of the program is very ambiguous. The AMCA program was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in March 2024 with a budget of about $1.56 billion. In May 2026, the Ministry of Defense issued a request for proposals to three private consortia - Tata Advanced Systems, Larsen & Toubro-BEL and Bharat Forge-BEML - for the development of five prototypes.
According to the plan, the first prototype of the AMCA will be presented in 2027, the first flight is expected in 2028-2029, certification - only by 2032, and adoption not earlier than 2034-2035. The Indian Air Force plans to form seven AMCA squadrons. Construction of a complex for integration and flight testing has already begun in Andhra Pradesh.
Many experts in India itself note that by 2035 these aircraft will be obsolete, and other countries will have at least 6th generation aircraft.
The AMCA is a twin-engine single-seat multirole stealth fighter aircraft weighing about 25 tons. Maximum speed: 2,600 km/h, flight range up to 3,240 km, practical ceiling: 20,000 meters, combat load: up to 1,500 kg in internal compartments and up to 5,500-6,500 kg on external suspensions, armament includes Astra missiles and guided aerial bombs. Engines: The initial version of the AMCA Mk1 will be powered by the American GE F414, the future Mk2 will be powered by a more powerful 120 kN engine, jointly developed with the French Safran.
The aircraft will receive an active phased array radar, an electronic warfare system, stealth technologies (including internal weapons compartments and radio-absorbing coatings), as well as an artificial intelligence system for sensory synthesis. The claimed parameter of the effective scattering surface (ESR) is lower than that of the Chinese J-20.
The abandonment of the Su-57 means that India, before the advent of AMCA, will count on upgrading its existing fleet of fighter jets, which leaves the country without fifth-generation fighters at least until the middle of the next decade.
