U.S. Escalates Pressure on India to Cut Russian Defence Procurements: Why a Su-57 Deal is in the Crosshairs

India has faced renewed pressure from the United States to curb its continued procurements of Russian defence equipment, which was a leading point of contention between Delhi and Washington from 2017 under the first Donald Trump administration and has since the beginning of the year increasingly been raised. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on June 4 stated while addressing the eighth U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum that President Trump had explicitly raised the issue, elaborating: “There were certain things that the Indian government did that generally rubbed the United States the wrong way. For instance, you generally buy your military gear from Russia. That’s a way to kind of get under the skin of America if you’re going to buy your armaments from Russia.” He added that India’s participation in the BRICS group, which challenged the U.S. dollar’s central status in the global economy, was “not really the way to make friends and influence people in America.”&nbsp;As the world’s largest defence exporter, the United States has made considerable efforts to gain inroads into Indian markets for over a decade, although Indian tenders for new fighter aircraft never resulted in the selection of American fighters. Procurements have been limited to assets such as P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, small numbers of Apache and Chinook helicopters, and a conservative number of M777 howitzers.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_6840de07942784_80351728.png" title="Su-57 and F-35 at Aero India 2025">Coinciding with the Aero India exhibition in February, President Trump has stated that his country would <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/trump-pledges-export-f35-stealth-fighters-india-derail-su57">offer F-35</a> fifth generation fighter aircraft to India as part of broader efforts to increase arms exports to the country. “We’ll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” the president stated at the time, as he received India Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House. India has nevertheless shown little interest in procuring the F-35 or other American fighters, with the procurement of the aircraft expected to be non viable for political reasons. The&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/malaysian-prime-minister-mahathir-claims-american-fighters-are-only-useful-for-airshows-why-f-18s-can-t-fight-without-washington-s-permission">extensive controls</a>&nbsp;the United States imposes on how its fighters are utilised is a key obstacle to the sale of even lower end aircraft such as the F-16, with controls being even more stringent for the F-35. These controls exploit the extreme centralisation of its&nbsp;ALIS and ODIN logistics systems, and are considered unacceptable by the Indian Armed Forces.&nbsp;The Indian Defence Ministry is currently considering an <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/india-considering-plans-su57-license-production" target="_blank">offer to produce</a> the rival Russian Su-57 fifth generation fighter in the country, with Russia placing few controls on the use of its aircraft allowing them to be operated far more autonomously, while offering considerably more extensive benefits to Indian industry from technology transfer and license production deals.<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_6840de4241a813_10926650.jpg" title="Su-57 Production at the Komsomolsk on Amur Aircraft Plant">Following&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/India-ignores-U.S.-sanctions-risk-receives-Russian-S-400-missiles" >threats</a>&nbsp;made under the first Trump administration to impose economic sanctions on India over its defence procurements from Russia, the country has since 2022 faced increased pressure from across the Western world to curb its close strategic ties with Moscow in defence and other areas. Under the first Trump administration, it was also suggested that Washington could overlook placing economic sanctions on India over its $5.2 billion order for <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/modi-elaborates-s400-importance-india-defence" target="_blank">Russian S-400 </a>long range air defence systems if Delhi placed an order for F-16 fighter aircraft. Echoing this approach, Lutnick similarly recently suggested that India was “starting to move towards buying military equipment from the U.S.,” indicating that this could be highly conducive to bolstering relations between the two countries. As a number of reports have indicated that the Indian Defence Ministry is close to finalising a <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-ambassador-details-terms-su57-deal-considered-india" target="_blank">decision</a> on <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/india-offered-path-quick-license-production-su57-landmark-deal" target="_blank">license production</a> of the Su-57, which is expected to pave the way to the procurement of over 100 fighters, the timing of Lutnick’s statement indicates it may have been made with this deal in mind in particular. Such a deal could be the largest in the history of defence contracts between Russia and India, and would be the first very large sale made since the S-400 order in October 2018. The <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/indian-air-force-faces-pr-crisis-240-million-rafale-destroyed" target="_blank">losses faced</a> by India’s small but very costly fleet of French-supplied Rafale fighters in early May during engagements with Pakistan’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/pakistani-j10c-shot-down-indian-rafale" target="_blank">Chinese-supplied combat jets </a>is expected to have <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/indian-pakistani-clashes-win-su57" >added further urgency</a> to India’s plans to procure the Su-57, which represents effectively its only near term option to acquire fifth generation fighters. &nbsp;