India is upgrading its Sukhoi fighter jet, it will defeat enemies in the sky for the next 30 years

New Delhi: India is preparing to make its Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets even more powerful. The Defense Ministry has approved a plan of about Rs 63,000 crore to upgrade the first batch of 84 Sukhoi jets. After this upgrade, these Sukhoi jets will be able to defeat enemies in the sky for the next 30 years. In this upgrade, many features like advanced radar, better electronics, long-range weapons and multi-sensor fusion will be added to the jet. After this, these Sukhoi jets will be able to compete with fifth generation fighter jets. A source said, ‘These upgraded Sukhoi jets will continue to fly till 2055.’

Why is it necessary to upgrade drying?
At present, the Indian Air Force has only 30 fighter squadrons, while it needs 42 squadrons to deal with both China and Pakistan. Each squadron has 16-18 jets. In such a situation, it is very important to upgrade these Sukhoi jets. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will upgrade these 84 Sukhoi jets in the next 15 years. After getting approval from CCS, its design and development will take seven years. After this, the jets will be upgraded in batches and inducted into the Air Force.India has 259 Sukhoi Jets
India currently has 259 Sukhoi jets, which are the backbone of its combat capability. Most of these jets have been manufactured by HAL under license from Russia. Apart from this, 12 new Sukhoi jets and their equipment are being purchased for Rs 11,500 crore to replace the crashed jets. Another source said, ‘In the next 15 years, India will have its own fifth generation fighter aircraft AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft). Its technology will be used in the Sukhoi jets to be upgraded after the first 84 jets.’

Indigenous radars will be installed in Sukhoi
In this upgrade, Sukhoi jets will be fitted with indigenous ‘Virupaksha’ AESA radars, which will be able to detect enemy aircraft at a distance of 1.5 to 1.7 times more than the existing radar. Along with this, long-range Astra-3 air-to-air missiles will also be fitted in the jet, which can strike at a distance of more than 350 kilometers. The Air Force is currently inducting Astra-1 missiles with a range of 100 kilometers. At the same time, DRDO is developing Astra-2 missiles with a range of 160 kilometers and Astra-3 missiles with solid fuel ducted ramjet propulsion.

A source said, ‘Except the fly-by-wire system, all the electronics of the upgraded Sukhoi jets will be indigenous. This includes all three mission computers with improved algorithms. In total, of the 51 systems to be upgraded, 30 will be built by HAL, 13 by DRDO and eight by the private sector.’ Currently, 40 Sukhoi jets have also been upgraded to carry the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The range of BrahMos has already been increased from 290 to 450 km and soon its 800 km version will also be included.