Components for Switzerland’s first F-35A aircraft are being manufactured at Leonardo’s Cameri facility in Italy. The fuselage and wing will be sent to the US for final assembly, with deliveries to Switzerland beginning in 2028.
F-35C fighters from the U.S. Marine Corps’ VMFA 314 squadron aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln conducted multiple strikes on Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen. The F-35C stealth fighter model has longer, folding wings and, like the F/A-18, is designed to be launched from the catapults of aircraft carriers, allowing it to carry heavier payloads than the F-35B.
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.
The U.S. is the only country to send fighter aircraft to Aero India 2023. Other U.S. fighters at Aero India 2023 include two Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets and two Lockheed Martin F-16s.
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 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.
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.
The first part of an analysis that examines whether the time is right for the two countries to finally have a discussion on a potential Indian order of the F-35 fifth generation fighter aircraft.
