Report: Armenia seeks to buy 8-12 Indian fighter jets

 Avions Legendaires reports that at the end of October 2024, the Armenian Defense Ministry launched negotiations with the Indian aircraft manufacturer HAL to purchase 8-12 of locally produced Su-30MKI Flanker-H fighters, as well as special weapons.

At the same time, Armenia reportedly intends to cancel the order for eight additional Su-30SM Flanker-C, which has been lying around for 5 years.

Currently, the Armenian fighter fleet consists of four Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-Cs received new in the spring of 2019 and around fifteen much older Su-25K Frogfoots. However, a few weeks after receiving its fighters, Armenia chose to order eight additional Su-30SMs. Although they have been partially paid for, at 70% of the contract, no aircraft have been delivered since. For one simple reason: Sukhoi has not produced any of them and the only Su-30s to date that have left its factories have been for the needs of Russia itself.

Armenia has been increasing arms acquisition from India, making significant purchases of Indian-made weapon systems, including the Akash-1S air defense system, as part of a reported $2 billion defense partnership signed in 2020.