The CCP backed Global Times assessed the state of the Indian Air Force in terms of the prospect of building or buying next-generation fighter jets, and according to Global Times, it doesn’t look good.
The emphasis is that India left the joint FGFA program with Russia and has virtually no chance of getting a fifth-generation fighter in the coming years, reported Global Times.
Indian dreams of having a 5th generation fighter jet wouldn’t be realized. The reporter says that India has not received the Russian Su-57 and will not receive the American F-35 because it bought Russian S-400 air defense systems.
It is noted that the United States is trying to push through a contract for the purchase of a special version of F-16 fighters for India – F-21, or Boeing F-15EX. However, these aircraft cannot be equated to the fifth-generation fighter jet. The only meaningful fighter jets in the Indian inventory is the French Rafale.
The Indian Air Force has a much worse real combat effectiveness than it appears in their data on paper. It is noted that when selling to India, the price of aircraft increases in a strange way. An example is a deal with France for the supply of Rafale fighters. According to the contract, each of the supplied “Rafales” cost the country’s budget more than $200 million per aircraft. India does not exclude that there was a corruption component in the deal.
Due to the USA-India’s close cooperation, India was eyeing F-35 fighters, but the US declined the Indians with a bucket of cold water.
According to the Chinese media, the Americans are not going to sell their newest fighters to New Delhi because of the contract for the supply of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. At the same time, he emphasizes that India does not have any definite strategy regarding the renewal of its aircraft fleet.
According to defence writer Joseph Trevithick – “It has seemed increasingly clear that the underlying Su-57 design might not be readily adaptable to being stealthier than it is in its present form.
According to Franz-Stefan Gady, writing for The Diplomat, the dissatisfaction on India’s side also led to delays in the program.
“New Delhi caused delays and Moscow disagreeing over many fundamental aspects of the joint development project including work and cost share, aircraft technology, as well as the number of aircraft to be ordered. After evaluating the first PAK FA T-50 [Su-57] prototype (the Russian prototype of the PMF), the [ IAF] wanted more than 40 changes addressing, among other things, perceived weaknesses in the plane’s engine, stealth, and weapon-carrying capabilities,” said Gady.
It is worth noting that India intends to develop its 5th generation fighter. In the best case, work on its creation of AMCA to the Air Force will not be completed by 2040.
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