IAF Seeks Expansion: Issues Tender To HAL For Acquisition Of 12 Su-30 MKI Fighter Jets

To make its squadrons stronger, the Indian Air Force has put out a bid for 12 modern Su-30MKI fighter jets to the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

“Recently, a tender has been issued to the HAL for buying the 12 Su-30MKI fighters, which will be manufactured in India by the HAL in partnership with the Russian original equipment manufacturers.”

They said the public sector company would have to reply to the bid by next month with information about the project and other information.

As required by the Indian Air Force and in line with the government’s Aatmanirbhar policies in the defense sector, the plane would have a lot of locally made parts.

“These would be one of the modern Su-30 MKI aircraft of the IAF, equipped with multiple Indian weapons and sensors,” they told us.

Also, the Indian Air Force is working on a big project to improve the fleet of Sukhoi-30 fighters. As part of this project, 84 of the Indian Air Force’s planes will get new weapons, radars, and electronics.

“The project is planned to be finished by HAL in India, and it will also set us up well for upgrading similar planes in other countries,” they said.

It has a fleet of 272 Su-30 fighter jets that were bought by the Indian military in different stages starting in the early 2000s.

Indian tools and weapons, such as the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the Astra air-to-air missile, have already been added to the planes to make them better.

Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, the head of the Indian Air Force, recently said that the BrahMos supersonic missile has “galvanized and greatly enhanced” the air force’s firepower and made it easier for the country to protect itself in any war.

He talked about how powerful it is to have a BrahMoS missile on a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and how smaller versions of the next-generation BrahMos missiles are being made so that they can be put on other combat planes.

Many drills and operations have used the Su-30s, such as the airstrikes on Balakot and the current armed standoff with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.