Donald Trump’s latest flat 25 per cent tariff on all Indian exports to the United States of America seems to have rubbed New Delhi the wrong way, as the world’s fourth largest economy has reportedly told US officials that India was no longer interested in buying its fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter jets.
The US has been repeatedly lobbying global military powers such as India to lift the American defence exports. But according to a Bloomberg report, India would no longer approve any major military purchases from the US, especially after the latest Trump tariffs.
“The government is more interested in a partnership focused on jointly designing and manufacturing defence equipment domestically,” Bloomberg cited an Indian official, in line with the country’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Russia, however, has better-suited equipment for Indian defence capabilities, according to industry reports. Last month, Moscow is said to have offered the country, through Rostec and Sukhoi, a package deal for the new Su-57E fifth-generation stealth fighter and the Su-35M multirole aircraft.
‘No official offer’ made for F-35
Then again, F-35s never really made sense for India. They are to be imported. They are tied to Lockheed Martin software, they have high operational costs, and they cost $80 million each according to official US government estimates.
Back in February, when Trump pitched F-35s to India, they were only meant as a stopgap measure given that the country’s own fifth-generation fighters are ten years away.
But that did not stop the Rahul Gandhi-led Indian opposition from criticising PM Modi for even entertaining the idea of hearing Trump’s offer. The Congress even invoked Elon Musk’s past criticism of the F-35 (where he referred to it as “junk”).
The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2024
This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes.
And manned fighter jets are… https://t.co/t6EYLWNegI
In fact, later in March, Air Force chief AP Singh at an event said that the country’s defence forces have “not given it a thought” and that “no offer has been made till now”.
Singh also highlighted the $80 million price tag and even quipped that it was not a washing machine or refrigerator that “we can buy by just the looks of it.”
F-35s may not be as safe as the US claims
Earlier on Wednesday (July 31), the US Naval Air Station Lemoore confirmed that an F-35C (the US Navy’s carrier version of the F-35) attached to the VFA-125 Rough Raiders went down near the installation. Officials later confirmed to agencies that the pilot was safe.
The F-35 fighter jet crashed near a central California naval installation and was engulfed in flames around 6.40 pm local time, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. First responders found the wreckage in a cotton field just north of Naval Air Station Lemoore.
The pilot has ejected, and the first responders found them with a parachute in a nearby field.
A month ago, reports emerged that the US Air Force cut down on the number of orders of the fifth-generation supersonic stealth F-35 fighters it intends to procure from Lockheed Martin Corp from 48 to 24. The Pentagon also reportedly cut down its order to just 12 F-35Cs from the 17 that the US Congress approved for the fiscal year.
