Reported RD-93 engine sale to Pakistan ‘actually benefits India’, say Russian experts

Russia’s jet deal aids India

Russian defence experts have said that reports of Moscow supplying RD-93 engines to Pakistan for the JF-17 fighter jet should not alarm India, arguing the deal could in fact work to New Delhi’s advantage. According to a PTI report, the experts dismissed the Opposition’s criticism of the Indian government as “unjustified”.

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

Topychkanov explained, “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 recalled that China had earlier sought Russia’s supply of RD-93 engines for its FC-17 jets as a temporary measure, and the potential transfer to Pakistan had been raised during the governments of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh.

Another Russian expert, speaking anonymously, told PTI that “Moscow convinced New Delhi that the RD-93 deal was purely commercial without transfer of technology (ToT), while India was given licence for much superior RD-33 engines under ToT.”

The RD-93 engine, produced by Russia’s Klimov plant, provides higher thrust than the RD-33 but has a shorter service life — 2,200 hours compared to 4,000. Since the early 2000s, Russia has supplied fully assembled RD-93 engines under a trilateral arrangement with China and Pakistan.

Reports last week suggested Russia may be providing the upgraded RD-93MA engine for Pakistan’s JF-17 Block III jets, but Moscow has denied the claim, saying there is “no confirmation” of such a deal.

In India, the alleged sale sparked political sparring. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh demanded answers from the government on why Russia would support Pakistan militarily, while the BJP dismissed the reports as “reckless information warfare”, accusing Congress of siding with “the enemy”.