Why Indian Su-30MKI are more expensive than Russian Su-30SM

Su-30MKI - Steve Cooke

Why Indian Su-30MKI are more expensive than Russian Su-30SM - Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Translated by google

Maya Biryukova

Su-30MKI, the core of the Indian fleet, cost almost twice as much as the new Russian Su-30SM. There are several reasons why this is happening: in particular, smaller production scales and less efficient production lines.

The Indian Su-30MKI are not only more expensive than the latest Russian platforms, but also other variants of the Su-30, for example, the Chinese Su-30MKK, writes Military Watch Magazine . They entered service in 2002 and quickly supplanted the MiG-23, MiG-27 and MiG-21, becoming India's most efficient fighters.

The first reason for the high cost is a smaller scale of production and less efficient production lines, where they are produced under a Russian license. The deal included a technology transfer fee, so production was more costly than if the planes were simply bought in Russia.

Another reason is the integration into production of technologies purchased from other countries. Most of them had a less advanced defense sector than Russia, the newspaper writes. The new subsystems proved to be extremely expensive and had a big impact on the cost of the final fighter.

The portal gives the following figures. Now the Su-30MKI costs 62 million dollars per unit. The Russian Su-30SM costs a little less than half the price. Unsurprisingly, this issue is causing serious controversy in the Indian parliament.

India is now considering the acquisition of the Su-57. The country has not yet decided whether this fighter will be purchased from Russia ready-made, or whether it will cost to pay for a license that allows production to be launched within the country. Licensed production can be much more effective if India produces aircraft strictly according to Russian specifications, the author of the portal concludes.

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