In something of a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump has offered the F-35 stealth fighter to India as he seeks to forge more defense deals and deeper strategic cooperation with New Delhi. The pitch comes at a time when the Indian Air Force is weighing its options for buying new combat aircraft, with a diverse range of types already under consideration. In the past, the F-35 had widely been seen as a less likely option, based on its sensitive technologies and the fact that India operates significant quantities of advanced Russian defense systems.
Trump made the F-35 offer yesterday during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, DC. It also comes during the Aero India 2025 international airshow, taking place at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru, southwestern India, and also featuring the F-35, as you can read about here.
“Starting this year, we’ll be increasing military sales to India by many millions of dollars, we’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighter,” Trump said. Speaking after Trump at a joint White House news conference, Modi made no mention of the F-35, although a joint media statement referred to a review of U.S. policy on releasing fifth-generation fighters and other high-end systems to India.
Even before Trump took office, the United States was increasingly looking to India as a major arms customer.
Last year, Indian arms deals worth almost $4 billion were secured by the Biden administration, including 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian drones, up to 170 AGM-114R Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, and 310 GBU-39B/B Laser Small Diameter Bombs. Separately, India has also agreed to buy six more P-8I Neptune maritime patrol aircraft, as well as Javelin anti-armor missiles and Stryker infantry combat vehicles. India has also struck deals to manufacture the last two items locally.
It’s also worth noting that U.S. officials have previously suggested that the F-35 could be offered to India. Most notably, back in 2018, the then-head of U.S. Pacific Command supposedly stated that he supported the sale of the stealth fighter to India.
As to how realistic Trump’s F-35 offer is, that remains to be seen, but there’s meanwhile no doubt that India is in the market for new fighters. In a statement provided to TWZ, Lockheed Martin also welcomed the statement:
“We are encouraged by the recent announcement by President Trump to provide the F-35 to India. Lockheed Martin stands ready to support these government-to-government decisions. We look forward to working closely with both governments on upcoming strategic procurements including the fighters, Javelin, and helicopters that will further empower the Indian Armed Forces with 21st-century security solutions and deterrence capabilities to address their pressing needs. This will be a huge step forward in the growing U.S.-India comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Lockheed Martin says it has been “a trusted and strategic partner to India for over three decades and has been instrumental in establishing the foundation of the aerospace and defense ecosystem. We’ve proven our commitment through various production programs like the C-130J, S-92 cabin, and the fighter wings feeding into the global supply chain.”
Most prominent among the Indian Air Force’s fighter requirements is the Multirole Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) competition, seeking 114 new foreign-made jets.
So far, candidates for the MRFA competition include the Dassault Rafale, 36 examples of which India previously acquired, under a separate program. When the 114-aircraft requirement was launched, it was billed as being specifically for single-engine types, ruling out the French product. Since then, however, the competition appears to be wide open, with the F-15EX, for example, now also being offered, and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet also in the running. Other European options comprise the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Saab Gripen E/F, while Russia is pitching its Su-57 Felon, which is also appearing at Aero India this week, and appears to have finally won its first export order.
If India decides to procure another single-engine fighter, after all, the Indian-specific F-21 configuration of the F-16 is also a viable candidate.
Of course, the F-35 is also a single-engine fighter, but offers an altogether different level of capabilities and high-end technologies than the other options.
Reports in the Indian media suggest that a request for proposals for the MRFA competition will be issued this year.
As part of Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, the manufacturers vying for MRFA will need to offer local production and technology transfer.
In the past, there was a plan to buy a portion of the new fighters as off-the-shelf purchases and build the others under license in India — this is something that Russia has offered specifically as part of its Su-57 bid.
Local manufacturing of the F-35 might not be an option for India, especially in the near term and it’s by no means clear if New Delhi would drop this requirement. However, the stealth fighter could potentially be offered with other offsets, including component production and the transfer of certain technologies. This could be particularly interesting for India as it embarks on its own next-generation fighter program, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), but it would likely still be limited to a significant degree based on India’s close military ties with Russia.
Ultimately, the MRFA program seeks to field interim equipment to help address a contracting Indian Air Force combat fleet and to fill the gap before the planned arrival of the AMCA, India’s homegrown fifth-generation fighter. Like other warplanes in this category, the AMCA will feature a low-observable design, including internal weapons bays, new-generation active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and advanced avionics, and will be intended, from the outset, to operate alongside drones as part of ‘manned-unmanned’ teaming concept.
The latest reports indicate that the AMCA is not expected to enter service until 2036, although there remains a question as to whether a potential F-35 deal could come to fruition within this timeframe. Were it to be made possible, the F-35 would offer an off-the-shelf means of drastically enhancing Indian Air Force capabilities at a time when the service is being rapidly outpaced by developments in China. It could even have the potential to completely transform the Indian Air Force and its future fighter procurement plans.
On the Indian side, the government would still have to approve funds for what would be a hugely costly investment.
“There is a process by which platforms are acquired,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in Washington, sounding a word of caution about a potential F-35 deal.
Intergovernmental negotiations have not started and the U.S. Congress would also still need to approve any potential sale. Bearing in mind the sensitive military technologies involved, this could be far from straightforward. In particular, India is an enthusiastic customer of Russian defense products, including air defense systems. India operates the S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system; the very same equipment that led to Turkey being ejected from the F-35 program in the past. More recently, the U.S. stance on transferring the F-35 to Turkey appears to have softened, but any such deal would still require Turkey to give up its S-400s.
Turkey had refused to give up its S-400 systems and had to sacrifice its F-35s (and an industrial stake in the program) as a result. Were India to be offered the same choice, it’s entirely unclear if it would agree. At the same time, while Turkey has acquired only a small number of different Russian-made weapons, India has long been one of Moscow’s biggest arms importers, resulting in a close military relationship and a significant ‘Russian lobby’ in Indian defense circles.
Ahead of Trump’s announcement, Angad Singh, an Indian defense journalist and contributor to this website, also highlighted the S-400 as a major sticking point for any potential F-35 deal: “Regardless of political winds in the United States, our case for the F-35 is complicated by the S-400 and the hordes of other Soviet/Russian equipment we operate.”
In addition to traditional resistance to selling the highest-end U.S. defense technologies to countries operating particular Russian weapons systems, there is also the very real worry that these technologies could find their way into adversaries’ hands by other means. Concerns of this kind have derailed similar potential deals in the past. The United States has safeguards in place to keep sensitive military technology and capabilities from falling into Russian or Chinese hands, and India’s close ties with Moscow are likely to be a key factor in the approval of any F-35 deal.
On the other hand, we are very much entering a new era in U.S. politics and foreign policy, and it might well be the case that India’s relationship with Russia and its Russian-made defense systems, are no longer seen as such a barrier to F-35 sales. Perhaps a deal could also be cut, in which India receives equivalent U.S. air defense systems to replace the S-400.
While it’s highly significant that Trump would pitch the F-35 to India in this way, there are many more hurdles to negotiate before we even get to a point where a formal offer can be made. Essentially, what we are seeing now is a review of U.S. fifth-generation fighter policy for India. What happens next is very much unclear, with Indian fighter procurements already well known for their unpredictability.
Putting aside the F-35 for a moment, it’s also noteworthy that the U.S. government is increasing its efforts to establish defense ties with India. As well as the potential for more military sales, and not just of fighters, Washington may well be looking to take advantage of Russia’s weakened position on the international stage and take its place by forging a strong defense relationship with India. This would be especially important in terms of the broader geopolitical situation in the Indo-Pacific region, where both the United States and India view China as their main long-term security threat and strategic rival.
“In our meeting today, the prime minister and I reaffirmed that strong cooperation among the United States, India, Australia, and Japan, and it’s crucial really, to maintaining peace and prosperity tranquility, even, in the Indo-Pacific,” Trump said after his meeting with Modi.
Ultimately, while the F-35 offer is about what could be a highly lucrative new fighter export deal for the U.S., it is just as much about driving a wedge between Moscow and New Delhi and helping build up the Indian military as a valuable counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com