Article Posted on : - Jun 15, 2011

The Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).

MOSCOW (PTI): Russia on Wednesday carried out a crucial demonstration flight of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) to be developed jointly with India as New Delhi seeks to extend its strategic reach.

The demonstration flight was watched by secretary defence production RK Singh, who is on a four-day Russia visit as part of an Indian delegation led by defence secretary Pradeep Kumar to review the progress in bilateral defence projects.

According to the inter-governmental agreement signed in October 2007, India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Russia's Sukhoi Corporation will jointly develop the futuristic platform under the FGFA project, to be initially based on Sukhoi's Perspective Aviation Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK-FA).

The FGFA project will be the biggest ever in the bilateral Indo-Russian defence cooperation, Sukhoi said in a release.

At the Zhukovsky airfield of the MM Gromov Flight Research Institute near here the prototype of the Russian PAK-FA fifth generation fighter was presented to Singh by the CEO of Sukhoi and MiG Corporations Mikhail Pogosyan.

Last month, air chief, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik had also watched a demonstration flight of one of the two prototypes of the fighter, which have already made over 70 test flights.