Introduction
In the high-octane theatre of global defence diplomacy, deals are rarely just about hardware. They’re about trust, timing, and tectonic shifts in the balance of power. And in this context, Russia’s recent offer to India, the Su-57 stealth fighter, along with complete source code access, is nothing short of extraordinary.
It’s a move that speaks volumes. Not merely about two nations with a legacy of defence cooperation, but about the future of air combat, autonomy, and the new geopolitics of technology.
What’s Really Being Offered?
The Sukhoi Su-57 is Russia’s crown jewel, a fifth-generation stealth fighter designed to compete with America’s F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. Sleek, agile, and radar-evading, it represents the culmination of Russia’s decades-long pursuit of dominance in air combat.
But what makes this offer to India truly unique is not the aircraft itself, but what lies beneath its skin: the source code…the digital brain of the fighter. With this, India wouldn’t just fly the Su-57. It would reprogramme, reconfigure, and even redesign its capabilities to suit Indian requirements.
Weapons integration, radar tuning, electronic warfare settings, and AI-based mission control, all could be tailored by Indian engineers without waiting for Moscow’s permission.
A Diplomatic Signal, Not Just a Sale
Why would Russia offer such a prized asset with such open terms?
The answer begins in Moscow’s urgent need for strategic rebalancing. Sanctioned and increasingly isolated by the West after the Ukraine war, Russia is leaning on its legacy partnerships, and few run deeper than the one it shares with India.
For decades, India was Russia’s largest arms buyer. MiGs, Sukhois, T-90s, BrahMos, INS Vikramaditya, and even a nuclear submarine on lease. But in the past two decades, India’s procurement landscape has diversified. From American Chinooks and Apaches to French Rafales and Israeli UAVs, the Indian defence forces have looked westward.
This deal, then, is Russia’s counter-offensive in the arms marketplace, one that offers something even the US would hesitate to match, and that is total transparency and sovereign autonomy.
Unlike the F-35, which comes with a digital leash and tightly controlled black-box systems, the Su-57 (in this package) comes with keys to the kingdom.
Why This Matters to India
For India, the implications are significant. There’s a long-standing desire in South Block and the DRDO corridors to stop being just a buyer of advanced technology and become a developer and customiser of it. With access to the source code, India could do precisely that, integrate indigenous missiles like Astra, Rudram, or Smart Anti-Airfield Weapons, develop its own mission software, and evolve the aircraft into a “Super Sukhoi”, an Indo-Russian variant uniquely tailored to the subcontinent’s theatre of war.
This aligns beautifully with India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) push and gives the Air Force a potential gap-filler as it waits for the ambitious AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) project to take off.
The China and Pakistan Factor
There’s a geo-strategic urgency too. China has already fielded its J-20 stealth fighters in Tibet. Pakistan, meanwhile, is inching closer to acquiring the Shenyang J-35, China’s twin-engine stealth platform, which it has promised to fast track the delivery at a meagre cost. If India does not induct its own fifth-gen aircraft in time, it risks falling behind in the stealth race.
The Su-57, if made available with local assembly and sovereign customisation rights, could act as a rapid force multiplier. It could fill the stealth void until AMCA is ready, which is projected realistically only after 2032.
Moreover, its presence in Indian hangars would send a powerful message: that India is not dependent on the West or China for cutting-edge air superiority.
But What’s the Catch?
Every great offer comes with its caveats.
Russia’s Su-57 program has been dogged by delays and teething troubles. Even today, fewer than 40 aircraft have been delivered to the Russian Air Force. Its second-stage engine, the Izdeliye 30, is still in testing. The production scale remains limited.
There are also concerns about Chinese-made components in its electronics and possible vulnerabilities in cyber defence. If source code access is granted, India will need to audit every layer to ensure that no backdoors exist, either for Russia or China.
Furthermore, stealth is not just about the shape of the aircraft. It’s also about maintenance doctrine, real-time data fusion, low-probability-of-intercept radar, and advanced mission computing, all of which require an ecosystem India is still building.
If these systems don’t align seamlessly, there’s a risk the Su-57 could become what defence insiders call a “hangar queen”, sleek, expensive, but underused.
Technology Transfer or Strategic Leap of Faith?
And yet, for all its risks, the Su-57 offer is a profound vote of confidence.
Source code isn’t handed over lightly. It’s the soul of a weapons platform, the part that gives it thought, reflex, and judgment. For Russia to offer this to India means that it not only trusts India technologically but also politically.
In doing so, Russia is attempting to counterbalance Western attempts to woo India into exclusive military alignments. The US, despite its willingness to co-develop GE engines and share satellite data, still stops short of such total access.
The Su-57 deal is therefore not just about fighter jets. It’s about digital sovereignty in warfare.
India’s Calculated Tightrope
For India, the challenge is to balance this offer with its broader strategic posture.
Can it accept such a deal while keeping defence ties open with the US and France?
Can it maintain transparency, avoid interoperability issues, and prevent Russia from exerting future pressure?
And most importantly, can it absorb and operationalise this technology in a way that strengthens, not complicates, India’s defence doctrine?
These are questions the Defence Acquisition Council and the National Security Council must answer with care. But what’s clear is that offers like this don’t come often. In a world increasingly fractured between blocs, India has been given a rare opportunity, to build a fifth-generation capability on its own terms.
Conclusion: The Sky Isn’t the Limit—It’s the Battleground
As India positions itself for a larger role in global affairs, from the Indo-Pacific to BRICS to the Arctic Sea lanes, its air power must reflect its ambitions.
The Su-57, if acquired wisely, could become not just a new fighter in the arsenal, but a platform of co-authorship between two old partners writing a new chapter.
In the great game of global power, some deals are about aircraft. This one is about aircraft and autonomy, about code and confidence, about the sky and the story India wants to tell, legacy, will never allow the world’s conscience to fade.
By Col Mayank Chaubey (Retd)
Former Indian Army Officer | Strategic Affairs Commentator
