The signing of a contract worth around $2.2 billion between India and Russia for licence production of 42 Su-30MKIs marks a significant step in the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)’s preparedness to manufacture fighter aircrafts indigenously, a top official has said.

The 42 aircrafts would be built at the HAL’s Nashik plant and delivered to the Indian Air Force in the next 4-5 years, the firm’s former Managing Director (Nashik and Koraput Divisions) Prakash V Deshmukh told PTI.

Responding to a question on the Indo-Russian deal signed yesterday, he said the process will signify India’s capability to indigenously build modern world-class fighter planes from raw materials.

“Last year, HAL Nashik delivered four such aircrafts, built from raw material to the Indian Air Force,” Deshmukh said.

Of the 28,000 aircraft parts manufactured indigenously, nearly 11,000 were outsourced from the private sector including flight-critical assemblies, he said.

So far, the IAF has nearly 170 Su-30MKIs in its inventory with 100 more to be produced and supplied by HAL in the next five to six years.

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