S-400 ‘gamechanger’: India reportedly plans more squadrons, Rs 10,000 cr missile order after Op Sindoor

As Modi and Putin meet on December 5, India moves to expand S-400 cover and upgrade Su-30MKIs, even as it weighs fifth-gen fighters and deepens big-ticket US defence deals.

India is expected to push for five more S-400 air defence squadrons and a large fresh missile order with Russia during the Modi–Putin summit on December 5, even as New Delhi prepares a Rs 63,000 crore upgrade of its frontline Sukhoi-30MKI fleet, according to a report in the Times of India.

The plan includes additional surface-to-air missiles for the S-400 systems already inducted, which the Indian Air Force (IAF) believes performed 'exceedingly well' during Operation Sindoor, the report said. On the table is also a separate Rs 10,000 crore procurement of S-400 missiles with interception ranges of 120 km, 200 km, 250 km and 380 km to replenish stocks used during hostilities with Pakistan and build reserves.

At the same time, the PM-led Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is set to approve the Rs 63,000 crore upgrade of the first lot of 84 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, out of the IAF’s 259 Su-30MKIs, with advanced radars, avionics, longer-range weapons and multi-sensor fusion 'to ensure they are capable of air combat for another 30 years'. “While the upgrade will be carried out indigenously, Russia will have some role in it,” another source told Times of India.

Why this matters

Together, the proposed S-400 expansion, fresh missile buys and Su-30MKI upgrade signal a long-term bet on Russian-origin platforms at the core of India’s air-defence and air-combat architecture, even as the IAF talks up the S-400 as a 'gamechanger' against Pakistan. The scale of spending also has fiscal and industrial implications, locking in tens of thousands of crores over the next decade and shaping the opportunity set for India’s aerospace and defence ecosystem.

Why is India doubling down on S-400 now?

On the Russian front, Moscow has assured New Delhi it will deliver by November 2026 the remaining two of the original five S-400 squadrons ordered for $5.4 billion (around Rs 40,000 crore) in 2018, after a long delay due to the Ukraine war. IAF is keeping its fingers crossed.

The Defence Ministry has also approved the Rs 10,000 crore procurement of a large number of S-400 missiles to replenish stocks and build reserves. “While IAF has asked for five more S-400 squadrons, defence ministry has already approved a comprehensive annual maintenance contract for the systems. Russia will set up an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility in India for them,” the source told Times of India.

What about fifth-generation fighters?

However, India is yet to take a call on acquiring two-three squadrons of the Russian fifth-generation Sukhoi-57 fighter, which Moscow is aggressively hawking vis-a-vis the American F-35 Lightning-II jets, top sources told Times of India on Tuesday.

“There is a case for IAF to induct two-three squadrons of fifth-generation fighters as a stopgap measure till the indigenous stealth AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) becomes ready for induction by 2035 or so. But no decision has been made on the Sukhoi-57, F-35 or any other choice,” a source told Times of India.

In effect, New Delhi appears willing to move faster on air-defence and legacy fleet upgrades, where platforms are proven and infrastructure exists, while keeping its options open on the more politically sensitive fifth-generation fighter choice that will shape IAF capability for the 2030s and beyond.

Balancing Russia and the US

India has been trying to strike a balance between its long-standing arms supplier Russia and the increasingly transactional US under the Trump administration that wants to punish countries for buying Russian oil and arms.

Several defence deals are in the pipeline with the US, which has already bagged Indian contracts worth $26 billion over the last 15 years. After the over $1 billion (about Rs 8,900 crore) deal with US major General Electric for another 113 GE-F404 engines to power Tejas Mark-1A fighters was inked earlier this month, CCS on Wednesday cleared a Rs 7,000 crore 'follow-on support package' for the 24 American MH-60R Seahawk helicopters being inducted by Navy for Rs 15,157 crore.