[ad_1]
Moscow. Russian Defense Experts said on Sunday that the alleged sales of RD-93 engine to Pakistan for use in JF-17 will actually benefit Delhi. Experts dismissed the Criticism of the Government of India inappropriate by the opposition on this issue. Pyotra Topikanov, the head of the section on new challenges in South and South-East Asia at the prestigious Praimkov Institute in Moscow, told ‘PTI’, “I don’t think the criticism here is appropriate. If the reports of Russia providing engines for JF-17 are correct, it will really benefit India in two ways.”
He said, “First, it shows that China and Pakistan have not yet managed to change the Russian engine. Second, the new aircraft will be familiar and estimated to India, especially because both share the same engine and India has seen the operational use of JF -7 during the May 2025 crisis (Operation Sindoor).”
Topikhanov reminded that China had requested Russia to supply the RD-93 engine as a temporary measure for its FC-17 jet and raised the issue of its possibility of transfer to Pakistan at the time of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh by the then governments of the National Democratic Alliance (Rajag) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
However, another expert said on the condition of keeping his name secret that he remembers the conversation on this issue. He said, “Moscow assured New Delhi that the RD-93 deal is fully commercial without any technical transfer (TOT), while India has been licensed for a better RD-33 engine under Technical Transfer (TOT).”
The RD-93 produced by the Climov plant, compared to its original RD-33, gives more ‘thrust’, but its service period is short. The service period of RD-93 is 2,200 hours, while RD-33 is 4,000 hours. Under a tripartite agreement between Russia-China-Pakistan, Russia is supplying a fully assembled RD-93 engine since the early 2000s. Pakistan is now wanting a revised version, which has not yet developed. There has been no official statement about sale.
The Congress on Saturday said that it was a failure of the Modi government’s diplomacy and the country should explain to the Pakistani fighter aircraft JF-17, citing media news of the media supplying the engine.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh cited reports that Russia is supplying advanced RD-93 MA engine for JF-17 fighter aircraft. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday termed the news of Russia’s progress on the supply of JF-17 jet engine to Pakistan as an ‘irresponsible information war’ and criticized the Congress for raising the issue on social media. The BJP accused the Congress of ‘to favor the enemy instead of India’.
[ad_2]
