F-35 Stealth Jet: US Pours Cold Water on Indian Dream

The United States has apparently poured cold water on the prospect of any sale of the most advanced F-35 Stealth Fighters to India even though six F-35 Lightning II jets for the first time took part in the Tarang Shakti 2026 exercise at Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

The US intention was amply borne out by the fact that around 200 American airmen who participated in the exercise simultaneously with their counterparts of Indian Air Force (IAF), threw a tight security cordon around the six Stealth Fighters that had arrived from the US base.

Taking a light but pointed dig at this, Indian Air Force chief ACM A P Singh quipped with a smile during a joint news conference that American personnel “don't even let us go near” the F-35 aircraft.

That the US has deliberately withheld every operational detail to India was obvious; so, any prospect or talk of a sale of this state-of-the-art stealth aircraft was, according to the Air Chief Marshal, absolutely premature.

Significantly though, the commander of the US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) General Kevin Schneider was also present among others at the news conference.

While the F-35 jet had made its maiden appearance in India only at Aero India 2025, the stealth aircraft did not participate in any exercise then.

The Jodhpur exercise, themed “Power in Partnership”, ran from September 26 to October 12. Seven foreign air forces which flew alongside the IAF, included those from Australia, the US, the UAE, France, Germany, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The assembly of aircraft from all these countries included the F-35, Rafale, F-16, A400M, MRTT, C-130, C-130J and KC-30A. About 32 other countries attended as observers.

India’s Quest for Stealth Fighter

The talk of acquisition of fifth generation fighter emerged after AP Singh had earlier disclosed that the IAF was likely to exploit the possibility of acquiring a foreign fifth-generation fighter if the indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme faced inordinate delays and that the force currently has no fifth-generation capability.

The question of acquisition of F-35 came up during prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in February, 2025. When Mr. Modi met the US president Donald Trump, the latter suggested making the stealth fighter available to India. However, New Delhi has since then received no formal proposal though.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pitched joint production and technology transfer for the Su-57 at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.

But the Modi government is yet to issue any official directive to the IAF to assess if Su-57 would meet its emerging requirements even though the AMCA prototypes are not expected before the end of this decade.

IAF’s Multi-role Transport Aircraft Tender

That New Delhi has been attaching critical importance to modernizing the IAF fleet is abundantly clear following the government’s decision to issue a tender for 60 multi-role transport aircraft as part of an upgrade at an estimated cost of around Rs 1 lakh crore.

The overseas participants might include Brazil’s Embraer’s C-390 Millennium, Europe’s Airbus’ A400M Atlas and the US Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules.

The Defence Ministry has made it mandatory to submit commercial proposals along with details of the technology transfer and industrial participation being offered by foreign aircraft manufacturers.

Among the Indian companies that are considered front-runner in the race to forge joint partnership with foreign aircraft manufacturers include Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Tata and Mahindra.

The need to issue tenders for modern multirole transport aircraft arises following a pressing requirement to replace IAF’s ageing An-32 fleet on one hand and strengthen its ability to move troops, vehicles, artillery and other equipment across the country’s challenging operational environment on the other.