India velger jagerfly - DefenseNews - FlightGlobal

 

Som den skarpe iakttaker ser, kommer F-35A fra Alaska for anledningen. Det som alltid har vært et spenningsmoment er hvorvidt US tech. kan snappes opp av russerne. India har lenge hatt forsvarssamarbeid med russerne, ikke minst da India var første utenlandske nasjon som kjøpte P-8AI Boeing var bekymret over overføring av teknologi. Heldigvis viste det seg at India ville ha samme innmat som den i Tu-144 som de fløy i ASW rollen. Det fikk Eirik Walle og undertegnede greie på da vi var invitert av Boeing for å se på produksjonen av de indiske flyene ved Renton, Seattle i 2011. (Red.)

For India, it’s ‘Pick your fighter,’ as Delhi weighs US, Russian bids

By Gordon Arthur

 Feb 24, 2025, 06:32 PM

A U.S. F-35A (foreground) shared a runway with the Russian Su-57E at the Aero India expo in Bengaluru, India, in February 2025. (Gordon Arthur/staff)

BENGALURU, India — The cream of the U.S. and Russian air forces shared a runway at the recent Aero India 2025 exhibition in Bengaluru, as both the Lockheed Martin F-35A and Sukhoi Su-57E attempted to woo the Indian Air Force towards an unlikely deal.

Emanating from opposing blocs, the surprising juxtaposition of these latest fifth-generation fighters at Aero India, held here Feb. 10-14, illustrates India’s non-aligned stance. Historically, Delhi has relied on Russia for military equipment, though the U.S. has made significant inroads into the market in recent years.

The latest competitive jostling surrounds fifth-generation fighters. A Rosoboronexport official said India could manufacture the Su-57 at home with full technology transfer. Russia’s defense export agency said it has held informal talks with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on the subject, and believes the Su-57 could be built at HAL’s Nasik facility where Su-30MKI jets are currently assembled.

Ironically, India had previously pulled out of an Indo-Russian collaborative project that ultimately resulted in the Su-57.

The Russian Air Force received its first Su-57 in 2020. Alexander Mikheev, director general of Rosoboronexport, declared at the air show here: “The first foreign customer of the promising, multifunctional, fifth-generation fighter Su-57E in 2025 will begin operating this aircraft which will be delivered by Rosoboronexport.”

A few days later, Algerian media reported that their country is, in fact, the Su-57E’s first export customer.

Thickening the plot, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in mid-February, Trump promised he was “paving the way to ultimately provide India F-35 stealth fighters.”

A joint leaders’ statement issued Feb. 13 said the U.S. was reviewing “its policy on releasing fifth-generation fighters” to India. Trump’s vow to put the technologically sensitive F-35 on the table is unprecedented, especially given India’s close relationship with Russia.

Lockheed Martin immediately responded: “We’re encouraged by the recent announcement by President Trump to provide the F-35 to India. We look forward to working closely with both governments on upcoming strategic procurements, including the fighters.”

Trump’s dangling offer of the F-35 took Delhi by surprise.

“I don’t think, with regard to the acquisition of an advanced aviation platform by India, that process has started as yet,” an Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said. “So this is currently something that’s at the stage of a proposal.”

India has an airpower gap with nemesis China, but it is unclear whether the F-35 is the right solution.

Apart from the U.S. being paranoid about F-35 technologies falling into the wrong hands, how would the advanced fighter integrate into India’s existing command-and-control networks?

The F-35 will unlikely be permitted to plug into networks containing India’s backbone of Russian-designed Su-30MKI fighters, for example.

The unexpected Russian Su-57E and American F-35 offers also come amidst Modi’s efforts to boost defense equipment self-reliance. In fact, India is presently pursuing its own indigenous, fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program.

The government displayed a full-scale model of the AMCA for the first time at Aero India 2025. The project promises, optimistically, first fighter deliveries in 2034. However, buying either the F-35 or Su-57 runs the risk of asphyxiating India’s AMCA effort.

A model of India's fifth-generation AMCA fighter is on display at Aero India 2025. (Gordon Arthur/staff)

India has signed $50 billion in defense contracts with Russia over the past 20 years. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that 36% of Indian defense imports came from Russia over 2019-2023. However, this represented a 34% drop compared to the preceding 2014-2018 timeframe.

As the world’s largest weapon importer from 2008-2023, India accounted for 10% of global arms imports. In that same period, according to a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service report, 62% of Delhi’s military imports came from Russia, 11% from France, 10% from the U.S. and 7% from Israel.

The same report remarked, “The U.S. government is actively encouraging India to reduce its dependence on Russian-origin defense articles.”

India is too important a market for the U.S. to ignore. Prior to 2008, American sales of defense articles to Delhi were virtually nonexistent, but since then it has accrued more than US$20 billion in sales.

Important American exports include C-130J Super Hercules, C-17A Globemaster IIIs, P-8I aircraft, CH-47F Chinooks, MH-60Rs, AH-64E Apaches, Hellfire and Stinger missiles, M777A2 howitzers, SIG Sauer SIG716 assault rifles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

India’s latest American deal, worth a mammoth $4 billion, is for 31 MQ-9B drones.

The Trump-Modi statement noted a “deepening convergence of U.S.-India strategic interests.” To further advance defense ties, the two will sign a new ten-year framework for a major defense partnership later this year.

The statement also announced plans to “pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements” for Javelin missiles, Stryker 8x8 vehicles and six additional P-8I maritime patrol aircraft “following agreement on sale terms.”

Earlier this month, India declared a 9.53% hike to $78.3 billion in its 2025-2026 defense budget.

“In the current geopolitical scenario where the world is witnessing a changing paradigm of modern warfare, the Indian Armed Forces need to be equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and have to be transformed into a technologically advanced combat-ready force,” reads a Ministry of Defence statement.

Delhi now has a choice – to renew reliance on Russia by buying the Su-57E; continue switching allegiance to the U.S. with an F-35 order; or spurn both by putting all its eggs in the AMCA basket and accepting a prolonged capability gap vis-à-vis China in the near term.

The juxtaposition of the Lockheed Martin F-35A and 

Sukhoi Su-57 at the recent Aero India show was great for

headlines. 

Countless images emerged of the two jets “squaring off” on the ramp.

Russia is offering New Delhi the Su-57 and industrial participation. This despite India’s withdrawal from the original PAK FA programme in the 2010s on cost and technology concerns. US President Donald Trump, for his part, said the USA “is paving the way to ultimately provide the F-35” to India.

Given the torturous nature of Indian defence procurement, limited funds, and incessant demands for technology transfer and local production, it would be somewhat of an aviation miracle if either jet ends up with an Indian air force roundel.

Source: Aero India

The Aero India hoopla around the two types is little more than a brief distraction from the massive challenges facing India’s air force.

The country’s Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) requirement for 114 badly-needed jets has been crawling along for years, though supposedly a request for proposals is due in 2025. Boeing, Dassault Aviation, Eurofighter, Lockheed and Saab are all pitching fourth-generation platforms for MRFA.

FlightGlobal well remembers the 2011 Aero India show, where the same rivals pitched basically the same aircraft for basically the same requirement. The Rafale won that 126-aircraft deal – then called Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft – only to see it later cancelled, although India made an “emergency” buy of 36 Rafales in 2015.

The country also has several much-delayed domestic fighter programmes, and urgent requirements in key enabling areas such as air-to-air refuelling, airborne early warning and control, electronic warfare, and unmanned systems.

Unlike the easy days of 2011, when New Delhi could arguably take its time updating airpower capabilities, the geopolitically fraught 2020s adds great urgency to this mammoth task.

Geopolitics is alive and well in our recent coverage. In an unusual helicopter intercept, a Harbin Z-9 of the People’s Liberation Army Navy intercepted a Philippine government turboprop over the South China Sea, coming soon after a Shenyang J-16 fighter’s dangerous intercept of a Boeing P-8A Poseidon of the Royal Australian Air Force.

The Pentagon also had a close look at the Boeing F-15EX – one of the gaggle of fighters on offer to India – and contends that the type is more than a match for emerging fifth-generation threats, such as China’s Chengdu J-20 and Moscow’s Su-57.

We also look at a developmental unmanned air vehicle from PteroDynamics. The US Navy is  providing $4.6 million for the company’s Transwing vehicle, which could revolutionise the delivery of spare parts and light equipment for ships at sea.