India disappointed with new Russian stealth fighter

India is reportedly disappointed with the result of a fighter program between the Indian Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Russian Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi announced in December of 2010.

The initial press release indicated that the proposed Fifth Generation Fighter:

…will have advanced features such as stealth, supercruise, ultra-maneuvrability, highly integrated avionics suite, enhanced situational awareness, internal carriage of weapons and Network Centric Warfare capabilities.

After delivery of the prototype, however, FOX News reports:

The Russian prototype is “unreliable, its radar inadequate, its stealth features badly engineered,” said Indian Air Force Deputy Air Marshall S Sukumar at a Jan. 15 meeting, according to minutes obtained by the Business Standard.

The Indian government, the largest importer of arms according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, routinely buys from Russia and the west. The U.S., however, has so far refused to provide the advanced Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter. Some defense experts indicate that the Indian Air Force may not be currently ready for the F-35 according to the FOX article.

Defense consultant Robbin Blair indicated that the Air Force of India may be leaning toward the French-designed Dassault Rafale fighter jets depending on what the French add to the aircraft.

This plane is quickly built and apparently tests better than the Russian prototype.