With a view to replace the Indian Air Force's ageing interceptors, Russia has offered to jointly develop a single seater aircraft with India.
"The single seater combat plane, developed on the basis of Su-30MKI, will be lighter and cheaper than Su-30 and the mixed formations of two fighters will provide most effective force structure to the Indian Air Force," Sukhoi Aircraft Corporation President Mikhail Pogosyan said in Moscow.
The planes will have unified avionics systems.
While the MKI is good for long-range ground attack duties, the lighter, single seater fighter will be good for close aerial combat, he said at the session of Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation earlier this month.
Pogosyan hoped that the proposed jet will be manufactured in India by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is currently gearing to roll out the first of the 140 Su-30MKI planes from next year under Russian licence.
