Lockheed May Pitch F-35 to Rejoin $11 Billion India Jet Contest

[EagleOne]

Very True. Well,its a case of choosing between evil and lesser evil. and the better logics points to the lesser one.
But having a TOT provides an excellent means to study their shipped equipments and coded softwares to minute details to weed out most, if not all its snitches.



The term 'ally' to US falls into a broad spectrum. The so called "Allied" British weren't allowed by US to partake some f-35 technology which the Brits and few other nations funded its development from their own coffers.

If you turn the pages of history you will know that US weren't willing to share the datas of Manhattan project itself, which ironically had the most talented British brains and money. Well, at the end the Brits had to smuggle the atomic details out of US to make their N-bomb.

Allying with a nation never guarantees us their total trust,nor it guarantees spy free environment,mate. You see its a Dog Eat Dog world.
In the world of politics its the Diplomacy rather than friendship, the real winner. Hope we are bettering it.

Very well said. Alliances are forged based on various geopolitical developments between nation states. Nothing lasts forever. And yes, India should not expect to be given everything on a platter just by raising the China threat.

That being said, the F-35 program was designed to induct semi-stealthy planes on a large scale to supplement the limited production numbers of F-22 jets in the United States. It also helps if the sale of this jet to strategic allies and partners will mutually benefit both US and others by funding our treasury and helping them increase their offensive strength.

One has to understand that the United States will stall for ToT as much as it can if it can because it doesn't want the money flow from India to stop. In that case, India will have to carve its own path by becoming part of Eurofighter consortium and pumping money for stealth development. I doubt Russia is doing a complete ToT with India on the stealth side. India is good in avionics but still not up-to the mark in structural engineering of fighter frames to reduce Radar cross section for stealth and evasion. Its getting there but it still is a decade behind in fighters.

 

[Abingdonboy]

I think that you have to admire LM/US perseverance and determination- they certainly aren't going down without a fight. It is this tenacity that has allowed them to achieve the fees they have. It makes you wonder why F-35 wasn't offered in first place- answer- US wanted as much $$ for as little outlay (F-16/planes) as possible and without royally pi$$ing off Pakistanis. That said I am very skeptical of IAF induction of F-35. Can you imagine IAF operating PAK-FA/FGFA, AMCA AND F-35? That's FOUR (if you include PAK-FA and FGFA as separate a/cs as they will have significant differences)FITH gen fighters!! It would certainly be a formidable force but their would be a duplication of efforts and significant overlapping of roles- some talk about EFT stepping on toes of MKI but F-35 and AMCA would fill similar niches. Also given reports of the "extras" F-16s of TuAF and PAF have come with I would be nervous of the repercussions if India went against US foreign policy or out of favour. The major difference between India and Pakistan is India has always managed to keep its (relative) non-alignment and that needs to remain. It is a shame that at the time F-35 India was in neither the financial, political or industrial position to be a partner in F-35 program- if it was started today it may be very different.


Having said that I think F-35C for IN IAC-2/3 with EMALS would just be out of this world and put India in an elite class and able to keep the Indian Ocean truly Indian!

 

[sancho]

Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) may offer its latest F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to India in a bid to rejoin the Asian country’s $11 billion combat-jet contest after the older F-16 model was eliminated earlier in the evaluation process...

Poor americans, the rejection in MMRCA seem to be too hard to take it, but this is just a poor try of LM to be back in the game, although they know what the problem is. THEY might be ready to offer the F35 in MMRCA, but their government is not, especially because it requires the licence production and ToT of the fighter and they even denied ToT of the older fighters, so forget about 5th gen techs!

Btw, why are the americans so surprised? It wasn't the first time Indian forces rejected US aircrafts and favoured more capable Europeans, that als offered the better industrial packages. Be it EC Fennec over Bell helicopters in the LUH competition, AW 101 over Sikorsky S92 in the VIP helicopter competition and even to join F35 partnership was denied in favour for FGFA. So it's not the first time and probably won't be the last time, but if they offer their latest arms and techs, their chances are way higher like the P8I, C130J - 30, or possibly the Apache Block 3 order shows.

 

[EagleOne]

The rejection in MRCA doesn't mean squat to the US government. It means a lot to Lockheed Martin as an organization and Cohen who had a lot of personal stake riding on these deals. They are the one lobbying US government to give the go ahead. Get your facts right. US government has already placed orders for 2400 of these fighters in total (all variants) for USAF, USMIL and USN. In addition, our development partners are purchasing them in 100's already.

 

[Dalai Lama]

Here's a quick Photoshop for you guys:

Enjoy!

 

[Jade]

The rejection in MRCA doesn't mean squat to the US government. It means a lot to Lockheed Martin as an organization and Cohen who had a lot of personal stake riding on these deals. They are the one lobbying US government to give the go ahead. Get your facts right. US government has already placed orders for 2400 of these fighters in total (all variants) for USAF, USMIL and USN. In addition, our development partners are purchasing them in 100's already.

The sales mean more to US government than to LM. If US wants to maintain its pre eminent postion in the world, it has to have powerful alies and....US government recognizes this. Don't be surprised if US government bends its rules for India

 

[Jade]

Here's a quick Photoshop for you guys:

Enjoy!

I certainly would not like India to go for F 35. It would delay the procurement. It should proceed with either Rafale or EFT. Anyway we will have PAKFA for 5th genarations

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

For what you are waiting, do you think they will offer u rafale and euro fighter typhoon to pakistan??

They did offer us rafael n we even were to buy it........ around 40 of em......... but thn the deal went bad due to the massive earthquake in 2005.

1) France still has other contracts including the Mirage Upgrade + Submarine deals which is much more than PAK's JF-17 avionics deal. Even if they did provide you the avionics or even the Rafael + whatever else, have you forgotten the jump from a 4G to a 5G fighter? or are do you believe JF-17 is better than a 5G?

Peronally I don;t want the F-35 since that would mean an early death to our AMCA project but if F-35 would mean a boost for the AMCA. I'm all for it!

JFT
7 subs
Energy related deals
weaponary

Tht the french could get..

 

[Dalai Lama]

I certainly would not like India to go for F 35. It would delay the procurement. It should proceed with either Rafale or EFT. Anyway we will have PAKFA for 5th genarations

I'll let you guys argue over that. I'm not good at these things. I just like Photoshop.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Buying the F-35 may have negative consequences for the AMCA project. Perhaps the Indian government could feign interest and give the AMCA design team more incentives?

 

[angeldemon_007]

^^^
I highly doubt IAF and even India will opt for this. US played dumb for so many years, i mean they should have understood before that atleast F16 won't be able to make in any case and LM should have offered F35 a couple years before. If they would have offered this in 2009 or even in 2010, they might have won by now.

I doubt IAF will be interested in operating a 3rd fifth gen fighter at a time when there are reports of another India-Russia 5th gen fighter (might not be true but still). It will be a nightmare for IAF to operate them. Also there won't be good ToT and i think maintaining a fleet of f35 will be very expensive and will be a nightmare for nations operating this aircraft.

 

[tvsram1992]

I certainly would not like India to go for F 35. It would delay the procurement. It should proceed with either Rafale or EFT. Anyway we will have PAKFA for 5th genarations

We can fill the gap with other aircrafts.

 

[Dharmachakra]

This whole F-35 thing is as just to kill the indian nascent a/c industry.

Buying f-35 is killing AMCA.This is as simple as that. And people still dont realise why grippen didnt make through in MRCA? Becos GOI dont want to kill Tejas MKII

 

[sathya]

US is already helping us with high altitude testing center... its good
i dont think IAF will consider f 35 for mmrca...
it didnt even ask for it. it wont test again those 640 pionts on new aircraft...
may be it ll make easy for the IN to approach...
though the naval rafale and proposed naval EF will stand in the way..

 

[Vibs]

This is interesting news. Just some time back, there was news of India's tri-services strike force planning to acquire 40 fighter planes capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-...su-35-bm-stratageic-forces-command-india.html

Now, news of F-35 being offered to India!!!! Gives one lot to think about.