Russia's proposal to give India unrestricted access to Su-57E stealth fighter jet technology is now entering a strategic phase, a new report said. Such a tech handover to foreign defence partners is something rarely considered by Moscow in its history, the report added.
If fulfilled, India will reportedly have access to the stealth jet's radar source code, electronic warfare architecture and the fighter jet's mission software framework. A Russian technical team has reportedly assessed HAL's facilities in Nashik as a part of assessing if they are capable of handling the tech-transfer.
Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in late 2025, Moscow had offered "unrestricted access" to technology for the new fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jet to its time-tested ally.
The Su-57E, which is the export variant of Moscow's prized fighter jet, is being marketed as an alternative to the US F-35 and Chinese J-20.
Under the proposal, Russia will first supply India with home-built Su-57s before enabling its production in India in stages, NDTV quoted the CEO of Russian government-owned defence conglomerate Rostec as saying. Moscow may even be willing to equip India with its single-engine stealth fighter aircraft Su-75 Checkmate, the report added.
Meanwhile, as per the fresh reports, Putin reinforced the proposal during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026. The Russian President reportedly vouched that Moscow is ready to co-develop the Su-57E with India and there was no upper cap on how further the cooperation could go. Russia is ready to supply the jets to India while continuing to develop it with New Delhi, he reportedly added.
Moscow is willing to make immediate delivery of 36 to 60 fully assembled Su-57E jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF), Defence Security Asia said in a report. The agenda is to equip the ally nation with fifth-generation stealth capabilities in the near future, it added.
The surging popularity of China's J-20 fleet and the emergence of Pakistan's J-35, direct rivals for the Russian platform, is said to have influenced the decision, reports said.
