US President Donald Trump on Thursday pitched for the sale of F-35 stealth fighters during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit after the regime change in Washington. This comes at a time when India has taken a “firm resolve” to roll out similarly capable Indigenous fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) by 2034-35.
“Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billion dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with F35 stealth fighters,” Trump said in a joint press interaction on Thursday with Modi.
The joint statement, however, issued by the two countries after the Trump-Modi bilateral engagement in the US, did not mention F-35 stealth fighters, which the US Department of Defence brought to Aero India 2025 for static display and flypast at the Yelahanka Indian Air Force Station in Bengaluru.
The F-35, a fifth-generation aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin, was also displayed at the previous edition of Aero India two years ago in Bengaluru.
Interestingly, not only the US but even the Russians demonstrated their fifth-generation SU-57 at Aero India and have offered to transfer technology for its production in India.
Govt’s clarification
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri later, in his press briefing, clarified that the discussion about F-35 is merely at a “stage of a proposal” and that the formal process laid out for defence product acquisition in India has not started yet.
“On military sales to India, look there is a process by which platforms are acquired. You are well aware of that process. There is, in most cases, a request for proposals that is floated. There are responses to those. They are evaluated. I don’t think with regard to the acquisition of an advanced aviation platform by India, that process has started as yet. So this is currently something that’s at the stage of a proposal. But I don’t think the formal process in this regard has started as yet,” the Foreign Secretary said.
A government officer privy to the behind-the-scenes negotiations with the US on defence issues ahead of Modi’s US visit said that India did not ask for the F-35 stealth fighters from the Trump government.
Lockheed Martin’s reaction
Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, issued a statement on Friday stating, “We are encouraged by President Trump’s recent announcement to provide F-35s to India.”
“We look forward to working closely with both governments on upcoming strategic procurements, including the fighters, Javelin and helicopters that will further empower the Indian Armed Forces with 21st-century security solutions and deterrence capabilities to address their pressing needs,” Lockeed Martin’s statement read.
On February 9, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in his curtain-raiser press conference on Aero India in Bengaluru, clearly stated that India has a firm resolve to manufacture the fifth-generation fighter aircraft within the country.
The US push, if accepted, would be at the cost of India becoming self-sufficient in developing capabilities for manufacturing next-generation fighters, at least three experts privately told businessline.
AMCA fighter jet
The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which conceptualised and is developing the AMCA, displayed a full-scale model of the 5.5-generation aircraft at the Aero India, which ended on Friday.
businessline, after a detailed conversation with Krishna Rajendra Neeli, Project Director of AMCA, at Aero India, reported on February 10 that the ADA wanted to develop five prototypes of the indigenously developed fifth-generation fighter jets. The first flight will take place in 2028. The induction of twin-engine multi-role combat aircraft, which will be powered by the GE-414 engine co-produced in India, into the IAF is scheduled for 2034.
A senior government officer involved in this ambitious project said that while US President Trump might have offered F-35s, it’s unlikely that India will buy them.
“I don’t think it will happen. But, if at all it does, then it will be a setback for the futuristic aircraft programme in which the government has spent lots of money and the DRDO has utilised its intellectual capital,” he emphasised.
Another senior defence industry representative expressed doubt over the Modi government buying Trump’s offer of F-35s, which are also too costly, and stated that earlier India took a stand against the previous US administration’s push for F-16 and F-18 fighter jets.
“We instead went for Rafales, manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation,” he stated.
Experts take
Defence expert Praful Bakshi, a retired Wing Commander, stated, “..Trump wants us to take the F-35 and give up SU-57. Last time when it came to F-16 and F-18 aircraft, France hijacked our deal with the US and gave us Rafales. This time, the US has been isolated when it comes to NATO nations, especially by France.. We would have received fighter aircraft from the US back in 1962 but we delayed it and did not show any interest.”
However, a senior government officer who is glued to the Ministry of Defence’s thinking on strategic affairs had a different take on the issue.
He stated that F-35s may be a stop-gap arrangement to augment the IAF’s depleting fleet due to ageing aircraft like Mig 29.
“Though they are costly and may not be a substitute for the AMCA, there has to be fifth generation aircraft in the inventory of the IAF as an interim measure because even if the government fast tracks AMCA production it will take at least seven to eight years for its induction,” he observed.
The production of Tejas LCA Mk-1A, which will form the bulk of the IAF fleet, is also running way behind schedule owing to a delay in the supply of engines F-404 from GE.