US Air Force / Alex R. Lloyd
2021-04-06 09:09
Theoretically speaking, India’s military environment is particularly good. The world’s top arms dealers are willing to cooperate with India. The important reason is that India is really willing to spend money on military procurement. Therefore, whether it is Russia, which has deep arms and equipment cooperation, the United States that is interested in wooing, or the military production countries in Europe, they all regard India as a sweet pastry.
Many people say that India enjoys its innate advantages in terms of weapons and equipment. I thought that with this advantage, India should be able to be at the forefront of the world in the development of weapons and equipment, including the fifth-generation aircraft! But it's not such a beautiful thing. And what makes India quite unwilling is that in the development of the fifth-generation machine, India is also continuing to run into a wall.
Previously, India was the fifth-generation Su-57 cooperating with Russia. If India could calm down and follow Russia's pace quietly, it would not be too far behind. Unfortunately, during the joint development of India, not only was it dissatisfied with Russia’s fifth-generation aircraft, it also suspected that Russia would not allow its own technicians to access core technologies. In such angrily, India withdrew from the development of the fifth-generation aircraft with Russia.
The reason for withdrawing from Russia’s fifth-generation aircraft is that India is actually stimulated by neighbors of major powers. From the perspective of India, even China can build the fifth-generation J-20. It seems that there should be no major problems with the fifth-generation aircraft. Russian cooperation, self-study should not be a big problem.
After the breakup with Russia, India is indeed committed to the development of the five generations of its own country. Unfortunately, after various efforts, India finally discovered that the problem of good eyes and low hands may actually sometimes be encountered by itself.
Seeing that the self-developed fifth-generation aircraft is hopeless in the short term, some other advanced military countries have already stepped into the fifth-generation stealth fighter combat environment, and India is also particularly anxious. In this anxiousness, India thought that perhaps it could go to the United States to purchase a fifth-generation machine. First, the United States is currently working to win over itself, and secondly, buying F-35 is for the United States to make money. There should be no reason for the United States to refuse! What India never expected was that it had closed the door to purchasing F-35 fighters from the United States.
It is reported that the head of F-35 fighter manufacturer Lockheed Martin publicly stated to the media that the Pentagon has imposed strict restrictions on the export of F-35 stealth fighters, and only "the most trusted partner of the United States" is eligible to purchase the fighter. . However, if purchasing F-16 is the "stepping stone", then purchasing F-35 will be relatively easy. Lockheed Martin believes that the Indian Air Force is "at least not yet ready to receive F-16 fighters."
From the perspective of the United States, the Indian Air Force has no intention of purchasing the F-16, which is tantamount to rejecting the F-35. In fact, Loma started selling F-16s to India a long time ago. Last year, it was widely reported that Loma was selling F-16 upgraded versions of F-21 fighters to the Indian Air Force!
It seems that India's hesitation in this matter is also an important reason why Lockheed Martin stuck India's neck on the fifth-generation aircraft.
But having said that, even if the Indian army purchases F-16 fighters, the United States is currently estimated to be unable to provide India with fifth-generation aircraft, because, like Turkey, India has already gone all the way to the black regarding the S-400 air defense missiles. The United States will no longer provide it with five generations of aircraft.
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