US President Donald Trump said that the United States will sell F-35 stealth fighter jets to India. Interestingly, the stealth fighters are participating in the Aero India airshow in Bangalore.
“Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F35, Stealth fighters,” Trump said.
Trump also said the countries had struck an agreement that includes India importing more U.S. oil and gas to shrink the trade deficit between the two countries.
The F-35 offer comes as Russia has expressed interest in arming India with Su-57 stealth fighters and helping India with an indigenous AMCA program.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The F-35 is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth multirole combat aircraft designed for air superiority and strike missions. It also has electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are the principal partners in the program with Lockheed Martin. The three main variants are the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the carrier-based (CV/CATOBAR) F-35C. The aircraft won the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program competition in 2001.
Mostly funded by the US, other financial contributors included the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Turkey was excluded after it procured the Russian S-400 air defense system. The UK was the only Tier 1 partner.
The technology demonstrator X-35A first flew in October 2000, and the F-35 prototype aircraft first flew in 2006. The F-35B entered service with the US Marine Corps in July 2015, the US Air Force F-35A in August 2016, and the US Navy F-35C in February 2019.
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The very extensive initial flight test phase was completed in April 2018. The US proposes to buy around 2,500 F-35s through 2044 and operate till 2070.
F-35 Design Features
The F-35 has a wing-tail configuration with two vertical stabilizers canted for stealth. Composites comprise 35 percent of airframe weight. At 13,300 kg empty weight, the F-35 is considerably heavier than the lightweight fighters (F-16, 8,573 kg) it replaces.
Internal weapon carriage reduces drag, and the powerful F135 (191 kN) single-engine allows Mach 1.6 speed with a full internal payload.
The thrust/weight at 0.87 at gross weight (1.07 at loaded weight with 50% internal fuel) compares with 1.095 (1.24) respectively for F-16s. The F135-PW-600 variant for the F-35B incorporates the Shaft-Driven Lift Fan (SDLF) to allow STOVL operations. Roll control during slow flight is achieved by diverting unheated engine bypass air through wing-mounted thrust nozzles.
Aircraft have great high angle-of-attack characteristics and maneuver agility. The avionics and sensor fusion enhances situational awareness and net-centricity.
The APG-81 AESA radar is among the best in the class. The helmet display is a key piece of the F-35’s human-machine interface, allowing “see-through” the aircraft view and off-bore-sight cuing of sensors and weapons.
The aircraft has a top-end electronic warfare system. F-35 has been tested in a manned-unmanned teaming role.
Weapons Platform
The aircraft has two internal weapons bays with two weapons stations each. For non-stealthy missions, it can use six external weapons stations. The carrying capacity is 2,600 kg on internal hardpoints and 6,800 kg on external hardpoints, totaling 8,400 kg.
These can carry combinations of the latest American stand-off weapons and air-to-air missiles. The internal stations can carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM and, eventually, the AIM-260 JATM. The aircraft also carries chaffs, flares, and towed decoys.
A weapon rack enabling the internal outboard station to carry two AIM-120s is being developed. In Block 4, it will increase the internal air-to-air payload to six missiles.
It is the only 5th-gen fighter that is Nuclear capable. Hypersonic missiles and direct energy weapons are being considered as future upgrades.
Aircraft-Related Concerns
The program did witness scrutiny and criticism for bloating costs, software glitches, and delayed deliveries. The three variants share just 25 percent of their parts, far below the anticipated commonality of 70 percent, thus adding program cost. At around $100 million per aircraft, the F-35 is expensive.
In 2001, the program was expected to cost about $200 billion to acquire in base-year 2002 dollars. By 2017, delays and cost overruns had pushed the F-35 program’s expected acquisition costs to US$406.5 billion, with the total lifetime cost, including operations and maintenance (until 2070), to US$1.5 trillion in then-year dollars. Full-rate production began only in 2023.
It is also maintenance-intensive. The F-35A’s cost per flight hour (CPFH) was $35,000 in 2019, compared to US$17,716 for the A-10 and US$22,514 for the F-16C. Lockheed Martin hopes to reduce it to US$25,000 by 2025. Many question the idea of using the same basic design to create many variants, thus making compromises.
It also meant putting all your eggs in a single basket. There was no backup, and delays and costs had to be lived with. Some analysts believe it is much less reliable at a 69 percent readiness rate than the much lighter and cheaper F-16 it was meant to replace.
Operating Nations
The militaries of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States currently operate F35s.
Taiwan was once keen to acquire F-35s. However, the US was reluctant to sell because of the risk of compromising classified data if the Chinese military officials got access to the aircraft.
The US turned down Thailand’s desire to buy 8 to 12 aircraft in May 2023 and offered F-16 Block 70/72 Viper and F-15E Strike Eagle fighters instead.
F-35 sales to Turkey, a founding partner in the program, were banned after it bought the Russian S-400 air defense system.
The United Arab Emirates initially wanted to purchase F-35s but later withdrew as it was not ready to agree to the additional terms imposed by the US.
Operational Deployments
USMC F-35Bs participated in their first Red Flag exercise in July 2016 and flew 67 sorties. The first F-35B foreign deployment was at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, in 2017.
Combat employment began in July 2018 from the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, with the first combat strike on 27 September 2018 against a Taliban target in Afghanistan.
F-35Bs operated from temporary bases in the allied territory within hostile missile engagement zones. The first USMC F-35C squadron became operational in July 2021 and was first deployed on board a carrier in January 2022.
The USAF F-35As conducted their first Red Flag exercise in 2017 and reportedly scored a kill ratio of 15:1 against F-16 aggressors. The first USAF F-35A deployment occurred in April 2019 to Al Dhafra Air Base, UAE, and was first used in combat in an airstrike on an Islamic State tunnel network in northern Iraq in the same month.
The first combat use of an RAF F-35B was in June 2019, when it was used for armed reconnaissance flights searching for Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. Since January 2022, Norway’s F-35As have replaced its F-16s for the NATO quick reaction alert mission in the high north.
The Israeli Air Force reportedly flew three F-35Is on a test mission to Tehran, Iran’s capital, and back to Tel Aviv in July 2018. Soon, the Israeli jets had been flown “all over the Middle East” and brought photographic evidence.
Since then, Israel has widely used its stealth fighter to strike hostile targets in the Middle East, including the latest strikes in Gaza. On March 6, 2022, F-35Is shot down two Iranian drones carrying weapons to the Gaza Strip. This was the first operational shootdown and interception carried out by the F-35.
F-35 For India
Until now, the US has not officially offered the F-35 to India, but New Delhi’s geopolitical interests are drawing it closer to Washington.
However, some briefings have been given at delegation levels. The F-35s were brought to Aero India 2023, where they conducted daily flight demonstrations. They are here again at Aero India in 2025. Clearly, the U.S. sees India as a prospect.
2023 was the first time a fifth-generation aircraft operated on Indian soil. Was that a hint to the Indian establishment? However, the US wants India to buy the F-21 (a highly modified F-16) first before the F-35s.
India’s own AMCA induction with stealth features is at least 15 years away. If the US is willing to offer (as per Trump), one school of thought is that IAF should acquire two squadrons of F-35A.
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Another question is whether India is ready to have yet another small fleet in addition to its multiple fighter fleets. Buying and maintaining the F-35 will be expensive.
But considering that India is already the fifth largest economy and will soon be the third largest, India would have to spend on security.
Due to Russian supplies, hold-up IAF currently has surplus capital funds. China is already armed to the teeth with fifth-generation J-20 fighters. Pakistan is increasing its fighter squadron strength and could acquire J-35 stealth jets from China.
India needs to fill the ‘stealth gap’ as soon as possible.
Buying around 40 F-35s and their weapons could enhance the IAF’s operational capability and be a significant deterrent. India’s security establishment must take its call. It is important to increase the number of IAF fighter aircraft quickly.
- Air Marshal Anil Chopra (Retired) is an Indian Air Force veteran fighter test pilot and is currently the Director-General of the Center for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. He has been decorated with gallantry and distinguished service medals while serving in the IAF for 40 years. He tweets @Chopsyturvey
- Article Republished with modifications
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