India and Russia sign deal to build Sukhoi Superjets amid US tariff tensions 

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), India’s government owned aerospace manufacturer, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Russian counterpart, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) to produce the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (also referred to as Yakovlev SJ-100) in India. 

The agreement was inked in Moscow on October 28, 2025, by representatives of the two aircraft makers.  

Although this tie-up has reportedly been under discussion since at least 2023, the timing of the announcement, just days after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on India for not cutting its Russian oil imports, has been widely reported in the Indian media as a political gesture.  

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Russia’s UAC is currently under sanctions from both the US and the European Union. 

The exact details of this projected industrial cooperation program are not known. However, it would not be the first time that HAL has manufactured Russian-designed (and previously Soviet-designed) aircraft under license in India.  

However, to date, those industrial partnerships have been circumscribed to the production of military aircraft such as the MiG-21, MiG-27 and Su-30MKI, which are or have been operated by the Indian Air Force.  

It is also not clear which engines would power the Indian-made Superjets. The initial engine option for this aircraft type was the PowerJet SaM146, which relies on French technology from Snecma. However, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions, Russia has aimed to replace that engine with the domestically developed Aviadvigatel PD-8, which is still undergoing certification. 

Capable of carrying around 100 passengers, the Superjet 100 is designed primarily for regional air travel, a segment that is relevant to India as the country strives to enhance domestic air connectivity.  

Since 2016 the Indian government has run the UDAN program, which aims to stimulate regional air transport through subsidies and other incentives, as well as through the improvement and construction of regional airports throughout India. 

UAC, in turn, has struggled to find foreign customers for the Superjet 100. Although it found some initial commercial success when launched in 2011 with operators in countries such as Armenia, Mexico, and Ireland, to name a few. Several of those operators later retired the aircraft from service after reporting technical issues and inadequate technical support. 

According to ch-aviation, as of October 29, 2025, there are 137 Superjets in active commercial service, all of them with Russian airlines. There are also six aircraft in the VIP version, of which four are operated by non-Russian operators (three by the Royal Thai Air Force and one by the Kazakh Air Force). 

The last airliner type to be domestically produced by India was the Avro (later Hawker Siddeley) HS-748. A total of 89 of this British-designed aircraft were produced under license in India, starting in 1961. The majority of these aircraft entered service with the Indian Air Force, although government-owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines also took 17 of them. 

India also has an agreement with Airbus to assemble the C295 multirole transport aircraft at a new facility in the state of Gujarat. The first C295 aircraft produced in India is expected to be completed sometime in 2026. 

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