US Presses India for F-21 or F-15EX Deal Under MRFA in Return for Trade Concessions; IAF Likely to Resist Amid China-Pak Stealth Threat

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is facing mounting pressure from the United States to select either Lockheed Martin's F-21 or Boeing's F-15EX fighter jet for its Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) competition.

This pressure comes amidst ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries, with the US implying concessions in exchange for an Indian purchase of American fighters.

However, the IAF has reservations about both aircraft due to concerns about their technological capabilities in the face of growing regional threats.

Both the F-21 and F-15EX, while modernized versions of older designs, lack the advanced stealth capabilities of fifth-generation fighter jets such as China's J-20 and J-35A.

With Pakistan potentially acquiring these Chinese stealth fighters, India is hesitant to invest in aircraft that could be outmatched technologically.

This concern is further compounded by the potential operational limitations imposed by the US on the sale of the F-35A, a more advanced stealth fighter.

The US Department of Defence has expressed a willingness to sell the F-35A to India, but with strict conditions regarding operational oversight and maintenance.

These conditions, which include regular inspections of Indian airbases and access to monitor the jets' usage, are seen by India as an infringement on its operational sovereignty.

Furthermore, Lockheed Martin's reluctance to establish an F-35 production line in India for a relatively small order of 110 jets adds another layer of complexity to the negotiations.

The IAF's MRFA tender specifically seeks a medium-weight fighter, making the heavy-category F-15EX a less attractive option. While the F-15EX is generally viewed more favorably within the IAF than the F-21, acquiring another heavy fighter like the Su-30MKI does not align with the IAF's current operational needs and strategy.

The IAF's preference remains for a medium-weight fighter that offers a balance of capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and logistical feasibility.

The IAF's reluctance to be swayed by political pressure in its selection of fighter jets demonstrates India's commitment to strategic autonomy in defence procurement. The Indian defence establishment remains wary of acquiring aircraft with restrictive operational oversight requirements.

Furthermore, investing in older-generation fighters while adversaries are deploying cutting-edge stealth platforms would put India at a disadvantage in future aerial engagements.

Despite US pressure, India remains steadfast in its requirements for the MRFA tender. The decision on which fighter jet to procure will be based on India's long-term strategic interests and operational needs, not on short-term diplomatic gains.

Unless the US offers a deal that includes more advanced platforms like the F-35A under acceptable terms, India is unlikely to favor American jets over other contenders in the MRFA competition. This situation highlights India's determination to maintain operational sovereignty while modernizing its air force with technologically superior platforms.

 

[मित्र]

Cancel MRFA

Instead buy 300-400 Tejas mk2 at the price of MRFA 30 billion dollars

We get 200 more jets in this case..

Win win

This time, I totally agree with you in case India dont have any offensive plans. But if we want to go offensive, go for 3-4 sqdrns of su57 with made in India and engine deal.

 

[ramdas]

Unless the Americans part with the Technology of F35 India shouldn't give a dam.

 

[Somebody]

Exactly. Buy more NViDIA chips, Advanced microscopes , camera, Trans Electron microscopes from USA but not fighter jets.

The whole point is US wanted India to come under their sphere, their fighter jet eco system will just do that.

 

[Bhishma]

They want to sell us junk from the 80s to revive their economy. Sigh, just send back the H1Bs already. Meanwhile, China will have futuristic 6G jets we have to contend with. By the time they deliver, we will be facing off with those 6G jets.

 

[Overvoid]

I think our country needs to partner with japan or any other asiatic country and produce a fifth gen fighter and need to invest lot more for faster production and induction.buyong US jets are not a good idea.f21 is bekar f15 has high operational cost both are useless in today's world.su57 can be a option but russia still doesn't have a proper engine.

No Asian country other than China has the capability as of now to produce fighter jets. Japan can't make it's own because Japan does not spends that much on military since US will never allow Japan to do that. If we partner with South Korea, US will surely get our plans of what we are trying to build. I don't see any Asian country capable enough to build fighter jets at least on par with Russia or West in Asia except China and Japan.

 

[Monil Patel]

All we can do is believe for now. We have to keep our hopes that AMCA won't be another Tejas. Since our economy is growing, I am sure that it won't be at least another Tejas and it's induction will be in 2035. By then, our defence budget will grow more than this. And we don't need SU57 for now because China won't put an all out war just like that. China's main aim for now is to capture Taiwan which they will do anyhow and whatever it takes. And they have to face US over that. For now, we have to focus on Pakistan and Bangladesh as of now. Yes China may behave like how they did in 2020 and 2021, but if it is some border clash, we don't have to worry. China will fund the internal threats in India especially in North East. And may fund some terrorist organizations in Bangladesh and Pakistan just to keep us occupied. We have to look after that. An all out war with us is beyond imagination for China as of now since both countries will face heavy loss. Even if China can build their country faster than us after war, there is no guarantee that they will win the war with us. We have seen how Vietnam made US leave their country. An invasion inside our country will be a huge loss for them since our army knows how to fight in those places. Chinese army does not. Even with their robot dogs, China needs to send it's army inside LAC to actually do something. And they aren't that capable to fight in high altitudes for now. Plus buying F35 will come with heavy restrictions to us since we have good ties with Russia. The US will everyday come for inspection and will tell us things which IAF may not like to do as well sometimes. We can't have war like that. What if Pakistan or Bangladesh suddenly attacks is and we have to use them and US says we can't use them against both Pakistan and Bangladesh? That will be a huge blow to us. And Rafael is not getting outdated anytime soon. It's operation capability is higher than SU-30 MKI as well iirc. So instead of that, we should procure more Rafaels under MRFA or work on Tejas MKII as fast as possible and induct it under MRFA. And getting F35 will give a huge blow to ADA and DRDO since they will think that IAF still does not trusts DRDO and ADA. We have to just wait for AMCA as of now and order more Rafaels, Tejas and order TEJAS MKII as soon as possible.

I just wish china don't give some old fifth gen fighter to pakistan as pakistan is begging from china since china also knows pakistan won't be able to afford 5th gen so they might give them some and india till now haven't selected with whom we'll make a indegionus engine Safran or genral electric since without domestic engine I'm very sure amca is another Tejas weather you like it or not.

 

[Bhupesh Desai]

Do not need to buy this Junk. Also fulfill GE's delivery schedule rather than pouting for more money and orders. 1st complete what you have been given in orders.

 

[Preet]

bs.. India can just buy the Medium lift Transport aircraft, and a few C17 Globemasters. These are to be bought anyway from someplace, so give the US $10-12Bn for these. Alongside, just get the Su57 under MRFA. Do all this in this quarter itself! Bakchodi ka time nai e ab.

 

[Akshat]

What about utilizing all the features. Modern fighters are network centric and if not integrated properly we won't be using it to its full potential. American fighters will come with strings attached with a long no to do list.

Well the 'not to do list' is not a big thing, at least as far as war fighting is concerned. At least for the foreseeable future, India's primary enemies remain Pakistan and China. We have enough firepower against Pakistan anyways, and US won't allow a major war between India and Pakistan either. And China won't attack us in the near or medium term and if there is a minor skirmish or something, US won't really stop us.

Main issue is the choke hold this would provide US with, as almost most of our airforce, or at least all the modern assets, would belong to US and they can practically disable the entire IAF if they want to. They are not gonna do it, but they can surely use that as a leverage. Say, what's to stop them from using this leverage to make us shut down AMCA and import F35 or some other plane of theirs? They have been known to do it, with the likes of UK, Israel, Japan and Australia, among others. Plus the diplomatic control they will get over us. That's why GoI always prefers diversification. So GoI might agree to let them in in other areas but is unlikely to induct US made fighters in IAF, especially if it's anything short of F35.

 

[Akshat]

IAF will definitely won’t buy F15EX because of Super 30 upgrade, our only option is F21 or F/A-18 or buy F35 and live with stringent monitoring, like willingly fitting a camera inside the bedroom and letting the next door neighbor watch, we once had experience with INS Jalashua, the best option for us is EF Typhoon Tranche 5 LTE, Rafale is still 10 years away for F5, buying either of these will make Trump 😡😡😡.

Well rafale might be 10 years away from F5 but it is still far cheaper and far more effective than EF Typhoon. A study commissioned by EF consortium itself said Rafale has better EW than them, and the author maintained that viewpoint till at least 2021, and claimed that it won't change at least for another decade. And that was before F4.

 

[Akshat]

India wasted a lot of money on MQ-9 Reaper drones which cost 950 crore per unit. On the other hand, Iran indigenously developed it. So India has to choose the F-35B aircraft which will provide an edge in the Himalayan region because of VTOL capabilities. Nothing else. Mahindra Whap 8×8 is better than Stryker, and India should bring the Rafael assembly line to India and its M88 engine for the Navy twin-engine Tejas.

Firstly, India doesn't need VTOL capabilities (for IAF) as we have bases in the plains which are barely 200 km, or even less, from the LAC. So our planes can take off with full payloads very easily.

Secondly, is there any source that says WhAP is better than Stryker, other than DRDO/Tata/GoI? Basically anyone who won't benefit from additional sales of WhAP? And I am not talking about the spec sheet but actual performance. Has anyone operated or tested both of them and said that WhAP is better?

 

[Akshat]

Don't get into USA's trap. Buy more chips, servers, civilian jets etc to improve trade imbalance with USA.

Well GoI doesn't buy enough of these things to make any significant difference to the trade. And private sector would only buy them if they are cost effective (and so would GoI, in fact). And we are anyways buying a lot of civilian jets from them. He wants to sell weapons in particular because they are a big ticket item and can be controlled directly by the governments and he can claim direct credit for them. Even if chip sales (or any other product used by civilians) increase it would take time and he can't claim it as a deal he made. So he needs to sell something big and directly to GoI, something worth billions.

 

[Puneet]

India can buy more of P8Is and Romeo Helicopters besides C17s and Chinooks instead of fighter aircraft to assuage the ego of POTUS.

 

[Akshat]

We don't need LM to manufacture them in India. Reduce order size, three or four squadrons of F-35. Rest Su-57 from Russia with local production. I don't think any of Tejas Mk1A, Mk2, AMCA, or TEDBF are going to be produced in numbers with American engines. The indigenous engine is going to take time. In the meantime, we will have to depend on imports. But the production of indigenous aircraft should continue unabashedly, even at a slow rate, to maintain the expertise and further nourish it. We will need 4 squadrons of F-35 to fill fast the depleting strength and six to ten squadrons of Su-57 to replace, not upgrade, Su-30MKI with an old airframe. This is a necessity. We can allow them to inspect their aircraft on a specified airfield in the south. If possible, F-35 minus their avionics, radar, and SDR.

But IAF has rejected Su57 even after pouring massive sums of money in it, and even Russia has cut down their orders. So Su57 is not worth local production or even procurement. Even China refused to buy it and said our J20 are far superior.

 

[Akshat]

This time, I totally agree with you in case India dont have any offensive plans. But if we want to go offensive, go for 3-4 sqdrns of su57 with made in India and engine deal.

Lol...IAF has outright rejected Su57. Even Russia has cancelled 70% orders. Russia begged China and China refused to buy it either, saying J20 is far superior. You may not trust China, but if Su57 was better, they would have bought at least a few units to check it out and reverse engineer at the very least. So definitely no Su57 for us bro.

 

[Rajesh]

MRFA without an engine made in India will hurt in the future. MRFA should include a mandatory clause for transfer of engine technology as well. Wasting such a huge amount without engine tech for a 4.5 gen jet in the era of 5th gen jets, considering our babus taking decades even to develop or manufacture 4.5 jets, is suicide.

 

[Anant]

India does not even have the required budget to buy fighter jets...look at the budget... it's only 1.8 lac cr for capital expenditure... India's defence budget is 1.9% of GDP, which was 2.4% before COVID... this government is reducing the defence budget at a constant rate... China and Pakistan both spend 3-4% of their GDP, and look at us... it's a joke... India should have spent at least 3% of their GDP on defence... but who cares... right now the main focus is freebies, and freebies also give votes... but national security doesn't give votes...

Um, the defence budget has grown consistently. The main reason you see the defence budget shrinking as a share of the GDP is because GDP growth has been faster than government expenditure growth. We have pretty consistently been spending 12-15% of overall government expenditure on defence.

 

[Anant]

Mr. President never tells you to purchase a specific fighter. He is giving a very big offer to purchase USA weapons. Naturally, it is acceptable because USA-made weapons are more reliable and have more advanced technologies in the world, but the price is more than any other country. It is simple business: give and take. India should go for a nuclear aircraft carrier with F-35B.

We can't build a nuclear carrier presently because the 190 MW reactor is still in the works. Moreover, the funding to build and operate such a carrier is also somewhat beyond our means for now.

 

[Sandeep]

The USA can put as much pressure that they want but India still won’t buy any USA jet. Unless they are offering the F35 jet then India isn’t interested in spending billions on any 4.5th generation jet.

We are already going to manufacture 200 Tejas MK1A and 150 Tejas MK2 and 100 TEDBF indigenously. On top of that we will need to buy at least 400+ AMCA over the next 20 years in different variants and upgrades.