Su-30: News and Discussion

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Jan 2011 15:02

if there are only six MKI sqdns at present + half a squadron for tacde + attrition/emergency reserve in storage, would point to around 15*6 + 8 + 10 = 108 MKIs only in India.

if someone can say we have 7 or 8 MKI squadrons now, then the number tends to 140-150...

with HAL delivering one squadron every year now, and IAPO doing the same, the buildup would likely be 2 new sqdns/year from now on though - mostly likely older Mig27 and Mig21FL sqdns converting over. only 40 Mig27 were upgraded I think , the rest will likely retire and people convery to mki platform.

Kakarat · Post by **Kakarat** » 15 Jan 2011 15:42

D Roy wrote:Moreover from Orbat:

From reader Sparsh Amin The Indian Air Force's next Su-30 squadron will be No. 102, which used to operate the Foxbat MiG-25. He suspects a seventh Su-30 squadron is delayed because the IAF's tactical development/evaluation organization now has a Su-30 flight.

Kakarat wrote:Currently there are 6 Squadrons of Su-30MKI (2, 8, 20, 24, 30, 31)

6X20 = 120

And according to Vayu V/2010 Squadron No.102 is being re-raised with Su-30MKI for AFB Chabua

Will try to scan and post the Vayu article on this

kuntal.saha · Post by **kuntal.saha** » 15 Jan 2011 15:57

prithvi wrote:
prithvi wrote:if anyone wonders how the Su 30s got delivered initially by Ruslans...

just curious where do we get our sukhois knocked down kit delivered..?HAL aerodrome?

if I am not wrong these 2 birds are MIG 29 and not SU 30... may be MIG 29K

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 15 Jan 2011 19:21

There was a picture of Sukhoi30 being delivered in a Russian transport plane published in India Today when Putin as President visited India to finalise the deal for Sukhoi, Gorshkov and T-90. I had cut out the pictures and glued them on wall of my room.

Regarding picture of Migs, why the engines are covered even though the nose is open ?

prithvi · Post by **prithvi** » 15 Jan 2011 23:50

D Roy wrote:the first 4 MKIs were delivered by the Condor directly to Lohegaon. And the domestically produced SU-30 is delivered by HAL Nasik (final assembly)

but when they say completely knocked down kit... what exactly does that mean ..? is it equivalent of IKEA furniture home assembly..? just tightening the screws?

Kartik · Post by **Kartik** » 16 Jan 2011 00:25

prithvi wrote:
D Roy wrote:the first 4 MKIs were delivered by the Condor directly to Lohegaon. And the domestically produced SU-30 is delivered by HAL Nasik (final assembly)
but when they say completely knocked down kit... what exactly does that mean ..? is it equivalent of IKEA furniture home assembly..? just tightening the screws?

pretty much. If its CKD then its broken down to its smaller parts (detail parts) and then put together using instructions. SKD (semi-knocked down) kits basically involve larger modules (groups of detail parts constitute a module) that are supplied directly from OEM to assembly line and then simply put together. Involves less effort than putting together CKD kits.

Cain Marko · Post by **Cain Marko** » 16 Jan 2011 08:21

Singha wrote:if there are only six MKI sqdns at present + half a squadron for tacde + attrition/emergency reserve in storage, would point to around 15*6 + 8 + 10 = 108 MKIs only in India.

if someone can say we have 7 or 8 MKI squadrons now, then the number tends to 140-150...

with HAL delivering one squadron every year now, and IAPO doing the same, the buildup would likely be 2 new sqdns/year from now on though - mostly likely older Mig27 and Mig21FL sqdns converting over. only 40 Mig27 were upgraded I think , the rest will likely retire and people convery to mki platform.

Sirji, if they have a mere 108 MKI so far, it would mean that HAL has only managed to produce 58 birds in 6-7 years (meager rate of 8-10 p.a). How in the world is it suddenly supposed to build the remaining 164 in 6-7 years? 25 a/c p. year is very unlikely. Even at 20 per annum, they will need until 2018-19 to finish up.

BTW, I doubt IAPO is doing any MKI deliveries now - the 2007 contract was given to HAL as per AK's statement, hence the 180 number from Nayak. THe images that you see from 2009 above are likely for the 18 K replacements

If I remember right, the original 140 contract was shortened till 2014 (they paid escalation costs for this) - so HAL is time/contract (2004-2014) bound to deliver 140 MKI in the next 3 years. Further the additional 40 a/c contract (2007-2011) reqd. HAL to finish deliveries by 2012. IOWs, 180 MKI are to be delivered around 2014 by HAL. ONly the last contract for 42 starts around that period and ends @ 2018.

It is only reasonable that HAL has churned up at least around 80-90 frames by now (and probably even 105), and the rest are to be completed by 2014. This makes sense because HAL was initially geared up to deliver 8-10 a/c per year and 140 birds in 14 years (2004-2017). They shortened this timeframe to 2014 thus requiring HAL to manage 14 birds p/year at the very least. At this rate, HAL would have conservatively managed 14 in 2008, 09, and 10 giving you 42 + 30 from 2004-07.

Then add to this the additional 40 signed for in 2007 all deliverable in a hurry (2011-12), which means HAL had to produce an additional 10 a/c from 2009. At this rate they should have surely managed 20 a/c from the newer contract by now.

Put together all of this for a conservative estimate at 90 deliveries from HAL till date. Plus 18 from Irkut, which they surely delivered by now. And the original 32. Total of 140 imho. Sqd no. 7 will be up any moment now.

The talk of 105 HAL deliveries plus 23 to 28 deliveries p.a is close to the ballpark.

CM.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Jan 2011 09:57

I will repeat my earlier question for lack of any reply: do sqdns of multirole types in IAF (mki, m2k) tend to specialize in A2A and A2G or same pilots train for both missions ? did #1 and #9 act as omnirole or specialize?

also what were the 6 mki sqdns at present operating earlier ? 6 squadrons (2, 8, 20, 24, 30, 31)

someone posted above that 7th will be the former trisonics sqdn . if so it must be same in name only because it was a smallish sqdn with the most "junior" pilots being squadron leaders only per an account by someone who served on it posted in BR many moons ago. seems to have been a small elite sdqn compartmentalized away from the general flow of things due to the 'sensitive' nature of its mission areas (like flights over and beyond national borders

)

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 16 Jan 2011 10:11

Singha wrote:
someone posted above that 7th will be the former trisonics sqdn . if so it must be same in name only because it was a smallish sqdn with the most "junior" pilots being squadron leaders only per an account by someone who served on it posted in BR many moons ago. seems to have been a small elite sdqn compartmentalized away from the general flow of things due to the 'sensitive' nature of its mission areas (like flights over and beyond national borders )

Well the earlier pilots must have been reassigned when the 25s retired right? So when the squadron is raised again, it will get new pilots from elsewhere. I feel bad for the old Mig-25 pilots though. They must have felt like transitioning from a formula 1 car to a Maruti-800

when the 25s were retired and the pilots sent to other squadrons to fly different aircraft, especially if the new aircraft was a Jaguar or Mig-27.

D Roy · Post by **D Roy** » 16 Jan 2011 10:17

All new squadron raisings right now are 20 a.c per squadron . In fact this is something that is missed when the media reports about arre 30 squadron ho gaya hai blah blah blaba blah..

so its very simple 6 x 20 = 120 plus TACDE plus 102 squadron which is in the works.

And in the recent exercises with the RAF at Kalaikunda birds with 130+ tail numbers were spotted.

the total numbers right now are pretty much 130 +

Jagan · Post by **Jagan** » 16 Jan 2011 10:34

D Roy wrote:All new squadron raisings right now are 20 a.c per squadron . In fact this is something that is missed when the media reports about arre 30 squadron ho gaya hai blah blah blaba blah..

so its very simple 6 x 20 = 120 plus TACDE plus 102 squadron which is in the works.

And in the recent exercises with the RAF at Kalaikunda birds with 130+ tail numbers were spotted.

the total numbers right now are pretty much 130 +

Where did you get the 20 number per squadron figure from? Any sources or references? The IAF unit establishment has always been 16 (in some cases 16+1 or 2 trainer versions)

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Jan 2011 10:38

these 130 a.c kitted up for A2A by themselves seem enough to chase down and destroy the PAF in a 2 week spell of raiding.
PAFs baksheesh seems limited these days to maybe a squadron every 5 yrs and that too after much drama and smoke, with 2000 pakis paying the price to droneacharya for that show of co-operation.

Once MRCA production hits full steam , with MKI continuing and Tejas production too, we should be getting around 2.5 new squadrons every yr (or old sqdns converting to new far better a/c).

fizaya has no realistic chance, except organizing air patrols over quetta and points farther west.

D Roy · Post by **D Roy** » 16 Jan 2011 11:34

Jagan.

I am well aware of the 16-18 format.

However that is the past. Now 20 ac squadrons are being raised with the Tejas raisings being just one example. Yes I am aware of all the arguments on how that might be restructured but i don't think that will be the case.

Here's shukla saying we are doing 21 ac per squadron ... ( although I can argue that the 1 is a typo.)

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... 1s/377296/

Here's Sandeep with 20
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story ... force.html

Jagan · Post by **Jagan** » 16 Jan 2011 19:56

Against a sanctioned requirement of 39.5 squadrons (each squadron has 21 fighters), IAF is now down to just 32 squadrons

This figure is down from its sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons, each with 20 aircraft, a decade ago

Thanks. While its interesting both said 20/21, both mentioned it in the context of talking about the IAF squadron requirement. I suspect they are quoting some defence hand out and not the actual IAF's practice on the ground. Let me refer to a few IAF blokes and get back to you on this. (and Sandeep as well)

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 16 Jan 2011 20:55

16 to 18 plus reserves is 20

Looks like our journalist friends divided the 40 order by 2 sqds and drew up that number.

srai · Post by **srai** » 17 Jan 2011 03:29

Jagan wrote:
Against a sanctioned requirement of 39.5 squadrons (each squadron has 21 fighters), IAF is now down to just 32 squadrons

This figure is down from its sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons, each with 20 aircraft, a decade ago
Thanks. While its interesting both said 20/21, both mentioned it in the context of talking about the IAF squadron requirement. I suspect they are quoting some defence hand out and not the actual IAF's practice on the ground. Let me refer to a few IAF blokes and get back to you on this. (and Sandeep as well)

Since IAF shares a lot of similarities with the RAF structure, we could assume the following:

Each squadron -> 12 aircrafts available (with operational variations) with 2 combat flights ('A' Flight and 'B' Flight) and 1 technical flight (spare parts, technicians, servicing vehicles, etc). At least 16 operational pilots are available per squadron.
Each flight -> 6 operational aircrafts, which are further sub-divided into sections, eg, Red Section, Blue Section, etc, of 2-3 aircrafts (depending on operational requirements)
Actual Strength of a Squadron ->18 aircrafts (allowing 6 for reserves, 'spare' A/C, and aircraft temporarily unserviceable). For single seater fighter-types, there are 2 units of two-seater versions for training, which when added to the 6 reserves bringing their total to 20 aircrafts per squadron. There could also be "deep reserves" to cover for accidents resulting in loss of a aircraft.

So, a two-seater Su-30MKI will have 18 a/c per squadron (12 active + 6 reserves), while the single-seater LCA will have 20 a/c per squadron (12 active + 2 two-seater trainers + 6 reserves).

Anurag · Post by **Anurag** » 25 Jan 2011 21:39

SB324

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abhishek_p ... /lightbox/

Jagan · Post by **Jagan** » 25 Jan 2011 21:53

Talking about IAF Squadrons. Sandeep Unnithan has written to me earlier - "It is indeed 16 + 2"

referring that single seater squadrons have 16 single seaters + 2 seaters. He does not believe that Squadrons have 20 ac.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 25 Jan 2011 22:11

astra!!!!

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 26 Jan 2011 01:03

SaiK wrote:astra!!!!

nai sir ji.

it's R 77, look at the potato masher fins.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 26 Jan 2011 01:06

sorry.

andy B · Post by **andy B** » 29 Jan 2011 16:29

Wokay so here are the Flanker articles that have been covered in the past few years onlee...

http://ifile.it/gitn7rx/SU30%20Evolutio ... 202006.zip
http://ifile.it/8blf3wi/Battle%20of%20t ... 202007.zip
http://ifile.it/2mtir1v/Combat%20Aircra ... V%2008.zip
http://ifile.it/myxnh30/IAF%20SUPER%20FLANKERS.zip
http://ifile.it/lhfaw9p/Indian%20Flanke ... 202007.zip

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 09 Feb 2011 06:41

Russia proposes equipping Indian SU-30MKI with AESA Radar

Russia has offered to equip the Indian Su-30MKI aircraft with the electronically scanned array radar to bring them on par with the most modern fighter aircraft in the world. Currently the technical configuration of the upgraded aircraft with onboard AESA radar is being discussed by Russian and Indian experts. The upgraded aircraft could be equipped with perspective Russian or foreign-made weapon, including Indo-Russian “BrahMos” anti-ship missiles, an Irkut statement said at Aero India 2011 A multirole Su-30MKI aircraft which became a sort of symbol of the IRKUT Corporation deserves an honourable place in the exposition of the company (stand 24, hall A). Fighter developed by JSC “Sukhoi Design Bureau” on demand of the Indian Air Force are mass-manufactured at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. The IRKUT Corporation delivers to India ready-made Su-30MKI fighters as well as Su-30MKI technical kits for license production by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Corporation.

Program production of Su-30MKI for the Indian Air Force and its modifications for other countries is being developed successfully. For a number of parameters it has no equal in the entire history of Russian military-technical cooperation with foreign states. The total value of contracts approaches $9 billion. Under agreements more than 150 fighter aircraft were delivered to the Air Forces of India, Malaysia and Algeria.

The model of Yak-130 combat trainer developed by the JSC “Yakovlev Design Bureau” – a part of the Corporation is displayed at the IRKUT Corporation’s stand.

The aircraft was chosen as the main aircraft for basic and advanced training for pilots of the Russian Air Force. In 2010 the fist serially produced Yak-130 combat trainers were inducted in the Russian Air Force. The IRKUT Corporation also carries out two contracts on Yak-130 deliveries for foreign customers. Pre-contract negotiations are underway with several other potential customers.

Sadler · Post by **Sadler** » 10 Feb 2011 05:22

Could one of the experts here briefly explain in laymen terms how an AESA makes a fighter more effective?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 10 Feb 2011 06:22

Sadler wrote:Could one of the experts here briefly explain in laymen terms how an AESA makes a fighter more effective?

Sadlerji - since I am not an expert I may be one of the best people to throw some dim light on this

The scanning of the radar is done electronically and not by a moving radar dish - so it's a static plate not prone to mechanical failure. The radar beam can be focused at specific areas of interest. Radar pulses can be sent out at a high rate and each pulse can have a different frequency so that an enemy receiver cannot lock on to any specific frequency to detect the AESA radar. Beams of different frequency can be focused at different targets - showing up the targets, but the beam itself will not be detected by other detectors. I also suspect that the radar can simultaneously display ground and air targets - but I am not sure.

Any errors in the description are mine.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 10 Feb 2011 18:53

Nice Work Shiv! Key difference is that an AESA has number of T/R modules, each of which are like a small independent radar. The beam from each module can be moved in any direction, so we don't need to move the plate on which the modules are installed. Operational advantages are as Shiv said. But there is a significant maintenance advantage as well. Even if a few T/R modules fail, the capability of the radar will not degrade much. So MTBF of the radar is increased.

rakall · Post by **rakall** » 11 Feb 2011 01:21

dinesha wrote:
Very interesting Q&A
He did not want to talk about seeker tech for Land Attack Version.
when asked he said Long Range >5000KM possible for both supersonic and Hypersonic version
Su-30 MKI to carry only one Brahmon in Central pylone.

.

The most significant from the AeroIndia2011 so far was th elast bit that Pillai spoke during question answer session..

Question: Is Su30MKI going to carry only one Brahmos between the engines or there is some talk of a special batch of Su30MKI's being configured for 2misssiles.. is it true?

Pillai: The airlaunched version will be fitted on Su30MKI's manufactured in India.. they will be produced at HAL, Nasik.. a batch of Su30MKI's that will be produced in a special configuration... this batch will be able to carry one Brahmos..

Any guesses.. what that means? There is a lot of depth in that statement...

Gaur · Post by **Gaur** » 11 Feb 2011 01:38

Sadler wrote:Could one of the experts here briefly explain in laymen terms how an AESA makes a fighter more effective?

No idea regarding technology or physics involved but from a pilot's perspective, one would be able to track and engage more no of targets simultaneously. Also, the reliability is more. This means that in all modern radars, sometimes the target flickers in and out of detection. While this happens even in AESA radars, the probability is less.

Also, AESA radars are said have the capability to act as EW systems. Also, there seem to be some talk of frequency hopping to remain undetected but I have no idea regarding these two points.

However, the current PESA radars are not lacking in range. The MKI's radar is so powerful that it can practically act as a mini AWAC. That is not to say that AESA radars cannot have more range than PESA radars. What I mean is that, for current fighters equipped with PESA radars (like MKI), range is the last issue. Eg: MKI can detect enemy long before it is in BVR missile's range.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 11 Feb 2011 01:40

rakall wrote:
dinesha wrote:
Very interesting Q&A
He did not want to talk about seeker tech for Land Attack Version.
when asked he said Long Range >5000KM possible for both supersonic and Hypersonic version
Su-30 MKI to carry only one Brahmon in Central pylone.

.

The most significant from the AeroIndia2011 so far was th elast bit that Pillai spoke during question answer session..

Question: Is Su30MKI going to carry only one Brahmos between the engines or there is some talk of a special batch of Su30MKI's being configured for 2misssiles.. is it true?

Pillai: The airlaunched version will be fitted on Su30MKI's manufactured in India.. they will be produced at HAL, Nasik.. a batch of Su30MKI's that will be produced in a special configuration... this batch will be able to carry one Brahmos..

Any guesses.. what that means? There is a lot of depth in that statement...

44 Su-30 MKIs are being modified with stronger structure (part of batch at HAL Nasik) for Brahmos carriage, first one is in Russia already. Reported earlier.

rakall · Post by **rakall** » 11 Feb 2011 02:38

Karan M wrote:
rakall wrote: The most significant from the AeroIndia2011 so far was th elast bit that Pillai spoke during question answer session..

Question: Is Su30MKI going to carry only one Brahmos between the engines or there is some talk of a special batch of Su30MKI's being configured for 2misssiles.. is it true?

Pillai: The airlaunched version will be fitted on Su30MKI's manufactured in India.. they will be produced at HAL, Nasik.. a batch of Su30MKI's that will be produced in a special configuration... this batch will be able to carry one Brahmos..

Any guesses.. what that means? There is a lot of depth in that statement...
44 Su-30 MKIs are being modified with stronger structure (part of batch at HAL Nasik) for Brahmos carriage, first one is in Russia already. Reported earlier.

It will be much more than that..

They will be wired as special delivery platforms !!! Ofcourse, Brahmos will be one parcel of the special delivery.. I believe there will be other Valentine gifts slated for special speedpost delivery from this special batch...

If we can take things one step forward - imagine a 300km+ range standoff distance delivery of a strategic payload with a cruise missile that is least vulnerable to interception.

VikramS · Post by **VikramS** » 11 Feb 2011 03:03

WIKI has a nice description on AESA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Ele ... nned_Array

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » 11 Feb 2011 11:43

^^rakall - Brahmos 2 hypersonic with a mini-nuke payload? Interesting. It has been mentioned before that Brahmos 2 will be hypersonic, while retaining more or less the same dimensions as Brahmos 1. However, it has also been mentioned that range will remain <300km because we are SDREs onlee.

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » 11 Feb 2011 11:48

^^Or wait - Nirbhay at 1000km range with a mini-nuke payload? The "least vulnerable" clause could be fulfilled if the Nirbhay is something like this: JASSM or ASM

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 11 Feb 2011 14:39

Karan M wrote:
rakall wrote: The most significant from the AeroIndia2011 so far was th elast bit that Pillai spoke during question answer session..

Question: Is Su30MKI going to carry only one Brahmos between the engines or there is some talk of a special batch of Su30MKI's being configured for 2misssiles.. is it true?

Pillai: The airlaunched version will be fitted on Su30MKI's manufactured in India.. they will be produced at HAL, Nasik.. a batch of Su30MKI's that will be produced in a special configuration... this batch will be able to carry one Brahmos..

Any guesses.. what that means? There is a lot of depth in that statement...
44 Su-30 MKIs are being modified with stronger structure (part of batch at HAL Nasik) for Brahmos carriage, first one is in Russia already. Reported earlier.

Most of them deputed to SFC?

rakall · Post by **rakall** » 11 Feb 2011 19:18

selfD

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 12 Feb 2011 20:42

Su 30 remains unparalleled in its power.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 13 Feb 2011 00:59

To add to the discussion about AESA radar.

Basically by shifting the phase of waves, one can be used to cancel the other. Think of it as a "u" shape and "n" shape mixing and canceling out each other. Now what does that mean? By shifting phase slightly, you can produce a narrow "pencil" of beam from a wide dish. So the waves instead of spreading out, go out in a pencil.

This has an advantage that the "pencil" can be rapidly moved across the sky and when not illuminated, a target cannot detect the radar. Think of it as a man shining a torchlight with a narrow beam vs a floodlight with a wide beam at you. The narrow beam torchlight cannot be detected unless he is shining directly at you. So if the torchlight shines at you only for 1/10th of a second the probability that you would "see" the light and hence intercept the guy shining it is low (low probability of intercept).

Now the advantage with AESA is that the pencil can be moved randomly across the sky very quickly (as opposed to mechanically scanned radar that has a single pattern of movement and speed limited by the speed of the actuators) and can stay longer time on smaller targets, lesser time on larger targets, scan around the target to get a fix on their speed and bearing etc and do many such innovations for novel radar processing algorithms.

Now when compared to AESA, PESA offers some of the same advantages. Rajendra for example. There are transmit/receive elements which can digitally shift the phase of the waves. However, they dont actually produce the radio waves, they are fed the radiowaves from a central source. This has a few advantages and disadvantages. The central source can be made very powerful so that PESA can be many times powerful than an AESA (where individual elements generate radio waves and cooling them etc becomes painful). However the disadvantages are that the radio guides (think of them as "tubes" which connect the central radio source to the elements) cause losses, shifts in phase etc. Also if the inter-element spacing is greater than half the wavelength, sidelobes start appearing (instead of one pencil you have several unwanted pencils like a hedgehog). Packing elements tightly is a problem because of digital shifters, wave guides ityadi should be connected to the elements.

Also haveing a klystron as a central single source of radio waves means two things. Klystrong goes = radar goes. In addition, each element in PESA cannot transmit in its own frequency (remember that they are all connected to the same klystron). So though a PESA can produce multiple pencils (to scan multiple areas of the sky simultaneously), these pencils cannot be at different frequencies.

negi · Post by **negi** » 13 Feb 2011 03:39

Well the biggest drawback/limitation of a conventional PESA has been the dependence on 'duplexer' for irrespective of all the good ingredients of an ideal Radar (powerful RF source and big aperture) it can only transmit OR receive at any given time instance and I cannot emphasize enough as to how big a headache problem of 'switching' is for anyone in electronics specially in the Rf regime.

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 13 Feb 2011 09:07

Vipul wrote:Su 30 remains unparalleled in its power.

In actual flight, the sight of the 360-degree turn as the Su-30 descends, is a wonder you’ll think is humanly impossible.

DDM rocks! Now why would he compare a Su-30 maneuver to humans?

kmc_chacko · Post by **kmc_chacko** » 13 Feb 2011 09:15

In May 2010, there was a news of Super 30 i.e., upgrading Su-30 MKI

The IAF has begun the 'Super 30' project to upgrade its Sukhoi-30MKI fighters with new radars, mission computers, electronic warfare systems and Brahmos missiles. Recently cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Sukhoi design bureau will start upgrading two prototypes in Moscow this year.

The first two Super 30s will fly into India in 2012 after which upgrades will be incorporated into the last batch of 40 Sukhois being licence-built at HAL, Nasik, from 2015. The IAF operates around 100 Su-30mkis and will add another 170 in the next decade.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story ... ghter.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/libra ... osti01.htm
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100530/159217594.html

did we signed it or still under negotiation