Key Points and Summary – Russia is again pitching its Su-57E “Felon” stealth fighter to India, dangling technology transfer and local assembly through HAL as a bridge until the AMCA is ready.
-New Delhi, however, shows no interest. India quit the joint Su-57 program in 2018 over poor stealth, unreliable engines, dated sensors, high costs, and limited tech transfer.
Su-57 Felon Stealth Fighter. Image Credit: Russian Air Force.
Su-57 and Su-75. Image Credit: Artist Rendering/Creative Commons.
-With sanctions crippling Russia’s defense industry and fewer than 20 operational Su-57s in service, the aircraft lacks credibility as a stopgap.
-Instead, India is doubling down on its own Tejas variants and AMCA program, favoring sovereign production over backing Moscow’s troubled fifth-generation jet.
India Won’t Buy Russia’s Su-57
Moscow keeps pushing the Su-57 Felon on India. At the Dubai Air Show, a Senior representative of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport says our “technology transfer comes without restrictions and possible sanctions.”
According to Defense Express on November 19, Russia has offered India a package deal involving the Su-57E fighter jet, which includes technology transfer and domestic assembly through Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
Russia framed this proposal as a stopgap measure until India’s indigenous fighter is ready for production.
However, Moscow is smarting from news from the Middle East that the US is close to a deal to sell the F-35 stealth aircraft to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, as well as the U.A.E., have sought to purchase F-35s in the past, but were rebuffed, primarily over operational security concerns and potential adverse impacts to Israel’s so-called “qualitative edge” militarily in the region.
This return to the export scene is part of an effort to boost foreign orders for an aircraft that remains in low production. The Kremlin, via United Aircraft Corporation and Rostec, wants to position the Su-57 as a credible alternative on the international market.
But New Delhi isn’t going to buy the Su-57.
Russia Has Been Pushing The Su-57 For Years With No Takers
Moscow sought to entice both the U.A.E. and Turkey with the Su-57 back in 2019, especially after Turkey was kicked out of the F-35 program following its purchase of the S-400 air defense missile system from Russia.
The US attempted to sway New Delhi to purchase the F-35 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Washington in February this year, where President Donald Trump reportedly pushed for expanded defense cooperation, including the sale of the fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft.
Su-57 Felon Stealth Fighter in the Sky. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Su-57 Felon Screengrab from Russia. Image Credit: X Screengrab.
However, the Indian government has informed the United States that it is not interested in procuring the F-35 fighter, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
India Withdraws From the Su-57 Program
New Delhi was originally part of the Su-57 program, but later withdrew from the joint Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) program, citing the Su-57’s shortcomings.
These included a lack of essential fifth-generation capabilities such as supercruise, inadequate low observability, unreliable engines, and problems with its radar.
India also demanded technology transfer and the installation of Indian-made AESA radars, which Russia was unwilling to provide in full, leading India to prioritize its own indigenous defense programs, such as the AMCA.
India’s involvement in the Russian Su-57 project was mainly financial, with India lending cash to the program from its inception.
However, New Delhi withdrew from the co-development deal in April 2018. According to Indian Air Force officials, the Su-57 was too expensive, poorly engineered, and powered by old and unreliable engines. Its reported lack of stealth also played a significant role.
The Indians’ complaints illustrated the reality between stealth-warplane design and the actual production of radar-evading jets. It’s one thing to sketch an advanced warplane on paper. It’s quite another to build one and get it to work.
Su-57 Felon Fighter Russian Ministry of Defense Photo
Since withdrawing from the program, Russia has sought to entice India back into it with several offers.
India Wants Fighters Built In India
Incorporating a “fifth-generation” aircraft into the India Air Force (IAF) plans – centered on the homegrown Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and adding any foreign-made aircraft – would be challenging, especially without co-production rights.
Being developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the AMCA is India’s own stealth fighter.
India’s planned fighter jet expansion is homegrown mainly, with plans to acquire over 500 jets, mostly light combat aircraft.
According to the BBC, orders for 83 Tejas Mark 1A – an agile multirole homegrown fighter – are confirmed, with another 97 expected to be ordered shortly. Meanwhile, the heavier, more advanced Mark 2 is in development. The homegrown stealth jet remains in development but won’t be expected for the next decade.
The Su-57 Is No Match For the F-22 or the F-35
The Felon was designed to compete with Western jets like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II; the Su-57 is no match for either of these American air platforms, and Russia’s industrial base is far from ready to mass-produce the stealth jet to the desired levels. To date, Russia has fewer than 20 operational Felons in its air fleet.
The Su-57 combines stealth, advanced avionics, and supermaneuverability, reflecting an amended, hybrid philosophy rooted in traditional Russian combat doctrine that prioritizes supermaneuverability, through thrust vectoring, particularly at low speeds, but updated for the challenges of modern aerial warfare in an era increasingly defined by stealthy aircraft.
The Su-57 Isn’t So Stealthy
The Su-57 Felon’s stealth features include faced surfaces that redirect radar out and away from the jet, internal weapon bays, and radar-absorbent materials, with particular emphasis on reducing the jet’s radar cross-section from the frontal aspect, in part by burying the jet’s two engines within the airframe.
While it offers improvements over previous Russian aircraft, its radar cross-section is significantly larger than that of other fifth-generation fighters, and delays, budget issues, and reliance on older engines have plagued its development.
The F-35 has a frontal radar cross-section of 0.0001 m², thanks to its advanced fiber-matte radar absorbent material. In comparison, the SU-57 has a radar cross-section of 0.1-1 m². This means the Su-57 has a 1000x bigger radar cross-section than an F-35, which is more akin to a fourth-generation fighter.
Alex Hollings of Airpower wrote that the Felon’s radar signature is more likely to be 20 to 30 times that of an F-22 Raptor, which is still a massive difference in stealth.
The Su-57’s stealth properties fall far short of those of Western stealth aircraft, as Russia is still in the infancy of stealth aircraft development.
The Su-57 aims to position itself between US and Western aircraft, offering the stealth capabilities and internal weapon bays of a new-generation fighter while providing a more affordable price and more favorable technology transfer conditions.
However, production delays, limited operational experience, and reliance on problematic Russian industrial chains may limit its appeal.
With crippling sanctions choking Russia’s defense industry, the Su-57 is increasingly dependent on foreign components. Moscow can barely produce it for its own use, with less than 20 operational aircraft.
And it has barely used the aircraft, which it claims to be so advanced, in a meat-grinder of a war where its forces are taking a beating. If Moscow’s trust in the aircraft is so low, then India won’t, and shouldn’t trust it either.
And as a stopgap? Realistically, New Delhi wouldn’t be getting the full complement of Su-57s for a decade, if at all.
By then, their domestic production of the AMCA will be ready.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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