India has requested Russia to upgrade its fleet of Su-30MKI multirole fighter jets, Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said in an interview. The Su-30MKI is India’s most advanced fighter jet was last seen in action during the Balakot airstrikes and subsequent skirmishes with Pakistan Air Force.
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”We are very pleased with the upgrades of the MiG-21, MiG-27 and MiG-29. They have been equipped with modern weapons and avionics. In recent exercises we tried them and were very pleased with the results,” Dhanoa told a Russian military daily Krasnay Zvezda.
Following the upgradation of MiG’s, India has requested a proposal for the Su-30MKI modernization, he said. Known as Flanker-H in NATO countries, India purchased the first batch of Su-30MKI jets in 1996 at the cost of $1.462 billion. Since then India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has produced 249 such aircrafts under license.
In 2017, India had cleared a proposal worth $435 million to equip the planes with new reconnaissance pods. The IAF describes the Su-30MKI as its air dominance fighter as it enables the service to perform multiple missions, owing to its extended range, speed, firepower and super-manoeuvrability.
