Russia's Engine Sales To Pakistan For Its JF-17 Aircraft Could Benefit India: Report

Russian defence experts have said that supplying RD-93 engines to Pakistan for the JF-17 fighter jet will actually benefit India, dismissing opposition criticism of the Indian government as unjustified, reported NDTV.

“I don't think the criticism here is justified. If reports about Russia providing engines for the JF-17 are correct, it actually benefits India in two ways,” Pyotr Topychkanov, head of the Section on New Challenges in South and Southeast Asia at Moscow’s Primakov Institute, told PTI.

“Firstly, it shows that China and Pakistan haven't yet managed to replace the Russian-origin engine. Secondly, the new aircraft will be familiar and predictable to India, especially since they share the same engine and India observed the JF-17's operational use during the May 2025 crisis (Operation Sindoor),” he added.

Topychkanov recalled that China had asked Russia to supply RD-93 engines for its FC-17 jet as a stop-gap, and both the NDA and UPA governments had flagged the possibility of transferring them to Pakistan during the tenures of Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Another expert, who wished to remain unnamed, noted that Moscow assured New Delhi the RD-93 deal was purely commercial without technology transfer, while India secured a licence for superior RD-33 engines under ToT. RD-93 engines, produced by Klimov, deliver more thrust but have a shorter service life of 2,200 hours compared to RD-33’s 4,000 hours.

Under a trilateral Russia-China-Pakistan agreement, Russia has supplied fully assembled RD-93 engines since the early 2000s. Pakistan now aims to develop a modified version, which is not yet ready.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh demanded answers from the government, while the BJP called the reports “reckless information warfare.”

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