HAL has produced 222 Su-30MKI aircraft so far, under a licence agreement with Russia. (Irkut)
The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a contract to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 12 December to produce 12 Sukhoi Su-30MKIs, over a year after the country's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded an Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), approving the procurement.
The contract, which is worth INR135 billion (USD1.5 billion), also includes associated equipment, India's Press Information Bureau (PIB) said. The contract value is inclusive of taxes and duties, the PIB added.
The new batch of aircraft will have an “indigenous content of 62.6%” due to the inclusion of “many components to be manufactured by the Indian defence industry”, the PIB said. The aircraft will be manufactured at HAL's Nashik factory facility.
The announcement of the contract follows the DAC's AoN, which was issued in September 2023. Janes has previously reported that the contract is part of a five-year effort by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to procure 12 additional Su-30MKIs to replace attrition-related losses.
Accident data assembled by Janes shows that 10 Su-30MKIs have crashed since 2012, with the most recent loss occurring on 4 June when an IAF Su-30MKI crashed during a test flight while under overhaul by HAL at its Nashik facility.
HAL and the IAF could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
For more information on this matter, please see India approves procurement of additional Su-30s .
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