Jaipur, Sep 30: Deploying its lethal combat arsenal near the Indo-Pak border, the Indian Air Force(IAF) is going to base a squadron of its Sukhoi SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Jodhpur airbase in the Rajasthan desert.
The squadron of air superiority Sukhois will be operational at the strategically vital Jodhpur air base by the first week of November, sources in the IAF said today. The border will be just a two minute flight away from Jodhpur.
It is the first Sukhoi-30 squadron to be deployed anywhere in the Western sector, the sources said, adding that the second squadron along the Western sector will be raised in Halwara in Punjab.
Till now, the Sukhois have been deployed in six squadrons. They are stationed in the Eastern sector in Tejpur and Chabua, Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and at its home base at Lohegaon in Pune.
The IAF is planning to induct a total of 272 Sukhois from Russia by 2017.
The twin-engined Russian-origin Sukhois are now produced under licence at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore in India. India is also planning to equip the aircraft with Brahmos super-sonic cruise missile.
Sukhoi 30s can fly for more than 10 hours without refuelling, the sources added.
The first Sukhoi 30 was inducted in the late 90s. The IAF started inducting the MKI version in early part of this decade. First batches of the MKI version aircraft are going to be upgraded under an over Rs 11,000 crore plan jointly by Russia and HAL. PTI
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