India Refuses F-35A Deal With US. What Alternative is Under Review?

India has informed the United States of its lack of interest in purchasing the latest fifth-generation F-35A fighter jets.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in February, President Donald Trump offered India the F-35A.

At the initial stage, Delhi seriously considered this proposal, but later backed out of the deal, preferring other formats of cooperation.

One of the key conditions of the Indian side was to locate a significant part of the production in the country as part of the national program “Make In India”.

Probably, the inability to agree on the terms of localization was one of the reasons for the refusal. In addition, the general deterioration of Indo-US relations amid trade disputes could have played a negative role.

Today, India has virtually no alternatives for the purchase of a fifth-generation serial fighter jet: The F-35 remains the only mass-produced and well-tested aircraft of its class with no direct competitors.

At the same time, the Indian defense industry is unable to develop and launch mass production of a fifth-generation fighter jet on its own without access to foreign technology. A striking example is the project of the fourth-generation national aircraft Tejas, which has been under development for decades but has demonstrated limited combat performance.

As a result, the program failed in the international market, and the Indian industry was able to produce only about 38 aircraft, 17 of which were prototypes.

Currently, India is focusing on cooperation with France – by 2028, it is planned to launch the production of fuselages for Rafale fighters at a rate of up to two units per month.

However, without access to fifth-generation aircraft, the Indian Air Force will not be able to effectively counter its main opponents – Pakistan and, especially, China.

Pakistan is just beginning to master China’s new generation of fighters, while Beijing is already actively producing, modernizing, and promoting them for export.

In such a situation, the only realistic option for India may be the Russian Su-57, which seems quite likely given the Indian armed forces’ continued use of Russian defense industry products.