If India is seemingly out of the picture for the FGFA, I don't think that Russia was too dependent on that for financing the PAK-FA in general, so I'm guessing the progress for this aircraft to get to production (new engine notwithstanding) won't be affected.
Pogosyan himself said the Indian involvement was very crucial to take the PAK FA to the next stage.
So they finished the first part by themselves, but they needed Indian money to double the scope of the program as well as bring in funding for next gen avionics and other technologies. Now they will have to fund it on their own.
That still doesn't take care of whether there was the possibility that Russia was looking for a commitment of a number of Su-57s from India to help finance this current jet's development. Not sure where that stands at the moment and you would think that Russia can go at it alone for now and get the aircraft into production, but with the sanctions and looming possibility of more, it makes you wonder how difficult this huge, monetary burden of financing the production of a 5th gen aircraft is on Russia.
They suddenly lost $100B worth of business and half the program orders, considering the cancellation is actually official.
The sanctions won't really affect us. The US wants to be our friend, but our military right now is heavily dependent on Russian supplies. Our immediate priority from Russia is the S-400 deal.
And then, we are completely focused on indigenizing literally everything. In the next 5 years, we won't have to import anything except for some unique and niche stuff, apart from wide body aircraft.
IAF is generally in the habit of getting involved in programs that are proven, or are at least operational. So they may show interest again in the future, once the PAK FA actually proves itself.
The IAF has basically split itself into pro-French and pro-Russian factions in this case. The Rafale faction is winning that little contest. And some of it had spilled into the media also, the culprits being the pro-Rafale faction.
Another interesting question is that assuming Russia is looking for a serious commitment from another country to help finance the final stages of this aircraft which would eventually have first dibs on it after the VKS, who is out there capable of or even interested in doing that? Would China be? Doubtful with the J-20. I don't see anyone else unless Russia approaches several countries for a package deal.
@vostok , do you know what the number of aircraft the RuAF is supposedly looking to acquire, or have they not even announced that?
I suppose they will have to aim for the Middle East now. They are working out a deal with the UAE for a smaller 5th gen fighter. They might try to get the Saudis in for the PAK FA. Or they will just go it alone.
The Russians are interested in 200 jets, India was interested in 200 jets, and 600 jets for exports. So 1000 in total. But with India gone, for now, they won't have an export partner to tap new markets.
