On 21 December 2010, during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to India, Rosoboronexport and HAL made a contract for development of the preliminary design of a fifth-generation Prospective Multirole Fighter (PMF). The contract was signed by Rosoboronexport Director General Anatoly Isaykin and Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan, on the one hand, and by HAL Chairman Ashok Nayak and HAL Director (D&D) N.C. Agarwal.

An official Rosoboronexport news release has stressed that the parties will co-develop the fifth-generation fighter under the current intergovernmental agreement. “The contract paves the way to the development of the Russian-Indian fighter”, reads the Rosoboronexport news release.

As is known, the Russian-Indian PMF fighter development will build upon the lessons learnt by Sukhoi from its development of the PAK FA Future Tactical Fighter. The first prototype of the aircraft first flew on 29 January 2010 and has been undergoing its flight tests in the Moscow Region. The second PAK FA flying prototype is expected to join it in the trials in the nearest future. The third fighter prototype is due to be completed in Komsomolsk-on-Amur by year-end. It will be the first prototype packing the organic avionics suite, including an active electronically-scanned array radar from Tikhomirov-NIIP.

As was repeatedly stated in Russia, the production-standard PAK FA fighters are to enter service with the Russian Air Force in 2015. According to the Indian media, the Russian-Indian PMF fifth-generation fighter is due to be developed by 2017. According to IAF Chief of Staff Chief Air Marshal Pradeep Naik, the Indian Defence Ministry is going to order “up to 250 fifth-generation fighters”.