BENGALURU: The United States brought its most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, to India for the first time this week alongside F-16s, Super Hornets and B-1B bombers as Washington looks to woo New Delhi away from its traditional military supplier, Russia. India, desperate to modernise its largely Soviet-era
The F-35 is not being considered by India"as of now", according to an Indian Air Force source, but the display of two F-35s at Aero India for the first time was a sign of New Delhi's growing strategic importance to Washington.
It was"not a sales pitch" but rather a signal to the importance of the bilateral defence relationship in the Indo-Pacific region, said Angad Singh, an independent defence analyst. "Even if weapons sales aren't the cornerstone of the relationship, there is a cooperation and collaboration at the military level between India and the US," he added.
The United States is selective about which countries it allows to buy the F-35. When asked if it would be offered to India, Rear Admiral Michael L Baker, defence attache at the US embassy in India, said that New Delhi was in the"very early stages" of considering whether it wanted the plane.
India also wants to manufacture more defence equipment at home in collaboration with global giants, first to meet its own needs and eventually to export sophisticated weapons platforms.
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