This is the L100 MSA bone dome which the RMAF hope to procure for its Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter squadron.

I am a great admirer of India. The country is already a certified nuclear power. Not a country one want to mess with. It also produced cruise missiles and assembled jet fighters. The Indians are also smart.
To them unless it make economic or strategic sense it is not worth the effort to re-invent the wheeel. In some cases, they are also pragmatic. The decision to buy the Hawk trainers from UK is one them.
I, however, cannot make sense of this article which appeared in the NST on April 28. (below)
Perhaps Dimitriev was wrongly quoted (they give interviews via translators). Its either that or was he a gambler who was speaking with a blissful reporter who was unaware of what flight helmets the Indian Air Force was using.
Its the Russian made Zsh-7 of course!
Or Dinitriev was telling us, again like a gambler, that since you bought our plane used our bloody helmets!!! It was the standard practice for the Russians (or Soviets) in the past to supply everything (literally) to its military customers.
So its maybe that the Zsh-7 helmets come tigether with the Sukhoi jets and there is no way the the Russians going to take back the 36 helmets! So if we are to use another bone dome, too bad, you have already paid for ours.

* With thanks to Slider.

“The New Straits Times. 28/04/06

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian pilots flying the Sukhoi 30 MKM aircraft will be
using the Indian version flight helmet. Russian Federal Service Military co-operation director Mikhail Dimitriev said the Royal Malaysian Air Force had decided to use the
Indian Air Force version of the helmet.
“We understand the weight issue for the Malaysian flyers and the Indian
Air Force SU30MKI helmet suits their requirements,” he told reporters at
the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2006 exhibition in Subang yesterday.
It was learnt that the RMAF was looking at the French MSA Gallet LA100
flight helmet and Ulmer ECT-76VD oxygen mask as standard equipment for
the 18 SU-30MKMs when they come on line in the middle of this year.
The aircraft deal, valued at RM3.42 billion, includes weapons, support
equipment and a new avionics suite from Thales. The French flight helmet and oxygen mask combination, however, is not the only contender as the RMAF is looking at several options but sources say the French combination is in the lead after it was picked to replace the Russian Zsh-7AP/KM34DII sets used by the RMAF’s MiG-29N fleet. In 2004, the RMAF complained that the Russian equipment was too heavy. In a high-G environment, the Zsh-7, which weighs 2.3kg, exerted
tremendous load on the neck and spine. Add a helmet-mounted sight (HMS)
and the helmet weighs a neck-snapping 4.8kg. Targeting with the HMS on the Zsh-7 was also a problem as the helmet tends to “pull away” because of the high-G loads experienced during air combat manoeuvres.”

Again with thanks to Slider!