The Russian-Indian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project has good prospects, an informed Russian source told Interfax on Monday.

"The development of a heavy fifth generation fighter aircraft is certainly of interest to India, and the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 is the latest and the most technological of all the existing projects," he said.

Several media outlets recently reported with reference to the Indian Ministry of Defense that India would not join the FGFA project for the time being but might join it at a later stage.

The FGFA is being developed on the basis of the Su-57, called also the prospective frontline aviation complex. The project is handled by the Sukhoi company.

It was reported in April that India was withdrawing from the FGFA project. Media reported that India was prepared to continue working together on the aircraft with Russia only if Russia fully shared all technology with it.

India is one of the leading buyers of Russian military products.

The Russian-Indian FGFA program provides for designing and developing a fighter jet of a new generation. It will be a stealth and highly maneuverable aircraft with hypersonic cruiser speed. It will have a highly integrated system of radio-electronic equipment, a situational awareness system, and a centralized awareness and radio-electronic warfare system. Aerial offensive means will be situated inside the aircraft.

It was reported earlier that all works under a contract for designing FGFA were completed and the concept of the aircraft was developed.

The contract for designing FGFA was signed in December 2010. It was expected that the first stage of the project would be completed within 18 months. A group of Indian specialists worked in Russia on documents on the project.

According to Indian media reports, it was expected prior to revision of the initial plan that India would start putting FGFA into service starting in 2022. Three FGFA prototypes were to get to India in 2014, 2017 and 2019 respectively in order to train pilots at a plant of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

According to Indian media, the contract for the final designing as well as the research and development works for the aircraft was estimated at $11 billion in 2015. It was reported that India and Russia would bear equal costs for the designing of the aircraft, the creation of infrastructure at an aircraft plant in India, the construction of a prototype and flight tests.

The Indian Air Defense Forces intends to obtain 166 one-seat and 48 twin-seat jet fighters within the framework of the FGFA project.