The Indian Air Force (IAF) has shelved its 11-year old collaborative Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme with Russia following enduring differences over its developmental cost and technological capabilities.
Senior Indian officials, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, recently informed a visiting Russian ministerial delegation that India was withdrawing from the programme, official sources told Jane’son 20 April.
Truth be told, Russia’s stealth fighter program was never going to be able to compete with F-22 and F-35 program. You can’t get stealth at the cost the Su-57 was going for. Russia can design a F-22/35 killer on paper but it’s impossible to produce that fighter at a fraction of the cost. Stealth is complex and very expensive.
Not Necessarily, Russia’s stealth program was troubled such that 3D thrust vectoring from the Engines made it impossible to make the rear aspect of the Su-57 stealthy as the rest of the plane.
So Russia made highly maneuverable Su-57 but not a very stealthy aircraft - and that’s troublesome with powerful radars.