India Buys Over $1B Worth of Russian R-37M Long-Range Missiles for Su-30MKI Fighters

According to the South China Morning Post, the deal covers about 300 missiles valued at roughly $1.2 billion, with deliveries expected to begin within 12–18 months.

The missiles will be used on India’s Su-30MKI fighter jets, which, along with French Rafale aircraft, form the core of the country’s air force.

Earlier, the Indian government approved a large-scale procurement package of weapons and military equipment worth about $25 billion. The country is accelerating the modernization.

The package covers all branches of the military. In particular, the Indian Air Force is expected to receive additional Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, medium transport aircraft, and strike unmanned aerial vehicles.

It also includes the overhaul and modernization of engines for Su-30MKI fighter jets.

The R-37M is a long-range air-to-air missile, considered, based on open-source data, one of the longest-range systems in its class.

The missile uses a combined guidance system: inertial navigation with radio correction during the midcourse phase, and an active radar seeker in the terminal phase.

For more details, the article “R-77-1 and R-37M: ‘Long Arm’ of Russian Aviation That Currently has no Direct Counter” is available here.