FGFA Program - 2010
In 2007 that the Indo-Russian inter-governmental agreement for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) was signed. This was followed by the $295 million preliminary design contract in December 2010. India, along the way, cut its requirement from the original 166 single-seat and 48 twin-seat fighters to just 127 single-seat jets. The overall FGFA project cost for making all the 127 fighters in India was pegged at around $25 billion.
Under the initial plan, along with Indian technicians based in Russia, the Ozar facility of Hindustan Aeronautics in Nashik was to get three FGFA prototypes in 2014, 2017 and 2019 for test-flying by IAF pilots. The final production was to begin only around 2022.
FGFA Program - 2011
When India and Russia inked the FGFA deal on 21 December 2011, HAL had only 15 per cent of the work share but was paying 50 per cent of the development cost. But India’s share in research-and-development was limited by its domestic industrial capabilities. The country had no expertise in stealth, which has taxed the world’s leading armament companies.
The two nations signed a 50/50 joint venture to build the aircraft in December 2011. At that time Russia was testing a handful of prototypes of the T-50 aircraft, which was due to enter service with the Russian Air Force after 2017. India committed to the FGFA, but had only 15% of the work share and was paying 50% of development cost. With Russians and Chinese opting for SU-35 and many others too, critics argued that India carrying on with FGFA in which Russia has lost interest is not a very good idea.
FGFA Program - 2012
India's Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne told India Strategic on 16 October 2012 that India would reduce by a third its order for the fifth-generation stealth fighter being developed jointly with Russia. India will now order just 144 of the fighters, all single-seat models, Browne said, down from an originally-intended batch of around 200, including 48 two-seaters. The original figure, of 200 aircraft, would have been possible if the aircraft was ready by 2017, with the first batch coming from Russian production lines. But India wanted to take on a greater share of development, pushing back the production date for the Indian variant, which is likely to be 2020 at the earliest.
A total cost for the program had yet to be worked out, but could total around $30 billion including development costs, HAL sources told India Strategic. The two countries were in talks on the first research and development phase. After this agreement was signed, a first prototype would likely be delivered to India in 2014, followed by two more in 2017 and 2019. Series production aircraft “will only be ordered based on the final configuration and performance of the third prototype,” Browne said.
The downward shift in number may be indicative of the projected cost of the platform, although given that the aircraft is still likely a decade away from Indian service then the planned off-take number could well change. Also of note is the suggestion that the aircraft will all be single-seaters. The air force had in the past, including with the MMRCA program to buy light fighters, tended to prefer a mix of single and two-seat aircraft.
FGFA Program - 2013
Both countries had signed a primary agreement in 2013 but due to some differences, a research and development (R&D) contract for the FGFA had yet to take shape.
India’s The Economic Times newspaper reported on 17 October 2013 that Indian military officials were concerned over the country’s work share in the FGFA project, which is currently only 15 percent even though New Delhi is bearing 50 percent of the cost. According to the paper, India’s defense minister was expected to raise that issue during his visit to Russia beginning November 15. By late 2013 the $11 billion final design and research-and-development contract was under negotiation between the two countries. The total program was expected to cost India about $25 billion to $30 billion.
India’s share in research-and-development work for the joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project with Russia was limited by India's domestic industrial capabilities but will gradually increase with the project’s implementation, a Russian military expert told RIA Novosti 25 October 2013. “The figure cited by the Indian side reflects current capabilities of India’s industry, in particular the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited [HAL] corporation,” said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Global Arms Trade. “With the progress in the implementation of this project, we expect the Indian engineers and designers to approach the share determined in the [Russian-Indian] agreement: 50 percent,” Korotchenko said in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti. Russia will certainly provide all necessary knowledge and logistics support to Indian specialists, but developing skills and acquiring experience in design and development of advanced fighter aircraft takes a long time and substantial effort, the expert added.
FGFA Program - 2014
Ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in December 2014, India told Russia to come back with a plan to substantially reduce the delivery timeframe for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) if it wanted to seal the project by next year. The plan till now was that India would begin inducting the stealth fighters only 94 months — at the earliest — after the two countries inked the final design and R&D contract, which itself had already been delayed by over two years by now. Russia had been told that India cannot wait for a decade to get the FGFA. The delivery schedules should be compressed instead of IAF waiting for the FGFA till 2024-2025.
India is already upset with Russia for not giving its experts "full technological access" to the FGFA project despite being an equal funding partner. The final design contract, which is yet to be inked after missing the mid-2012 deadline, envisages the two countries chipping in with $5.5 billion each towards designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing.
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