Romania has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for 32 F-35A aircraft that are expected to cost around $6.4 billion. Romania already operates the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter and has become the 20th member of the club of F-35 operator countries.
The acquisition of the S-400, differing points of view on the war in Ukraine, eye-watering costs, a domestic 5th gen fighter program and never having operated any U.S. fighter aircraft are some of the reasons why India can’t and shouldn’t consider the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
Japan has asked for 63 conventional F-35A & 42 F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing aircraft, and also plans to build its own stealth fighter by 2031.
The IAF’s new contest for fighter aircraft is expected to get underway over the next few months. But there remain a number of significant outstanding problems ahead, that could delay or derail the process.
Part III of this analysis examines the implications of the single most interesting data point to emerge from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. This date has never been mentioned in earlier media reports, and what is almost startlingly significant is not only what transpired on this date, but the fact of the date, itself.
Part II of this analysis examines how the defence ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) interpreted an inflated cost analysis of the Eurofighter bid and undervalued the cost of the Rafale bid, five times.
Part I of this three-part analysis is a contextual reading of the February 2019 CAG report and outlines how the IAF’s MMRCA contest was fixed to get the Rafale back into the contest after it was rejected, three times, and how the threats to a Rafale win were removed.
The airshow has 403 exhibitors participating in this edition of which 165 are international exhibitors. 63 aircraft will be present at the show, either on static display or for flight demonstrations.
Lockheed Martin’s Vivek Lall welcomed the IAF’s open contest for 110 fighter aircraft and explained why he thinks the F-16 makes a good case for India.
Find out exactly what Lockheed Martin is offering for the F-16 Block 70 to India, the only F-16 concept to feature both drogue as well as receptacle refueling, plus Auto GCAS, besides other Indian-spec requirements.
Boeing is the third international manufacturer to have announced a partnership with Indian companies for the production of fighter aircraft in India.
An LCA ride might have turned into something else entirely, had the original request for a demonstration flight been acceded by the Indian Air Force.
The reference to a sale of the fifth generation F-35 has never been made before by any U.S. government official and represents a shift in their willingness to bring it up for discussion with India.
The defence ministry has provided a singular and unconvincing defence of why it did not ask for, or entertain, a competing commercial offer for the Eurofighter Typhoon pitched by Airbus.
A breakdown of the issues that need to be resolved for the two countries to have discussions on a potential Indian fleet of F-35 aircraft, in the concluding part of this analysis.
