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IAF chief ribs US general over F-35 at combat drills
A US commander cited security protocols. India is pursuing its own fifth-generation fighter, the AMCA.
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The Indian Air Force got little access to the USAF’s F-35 stealth fighter during the two-week Exercise Tarang Shakti, and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh wasn’t one to let that pass without comment. He found a way to make his point — wrapped in friendly banter — but delivered in front of a top US commander.
“I was telling the PACAF commander that your people don’t let us come anywhere close to the F-35, and you talk about selling it to us. There is no offer from the US for us to buy the F-35,” Singh said ahead of the conclusion of the two-week exercise on October 12.
Seated beside Singh was General Kevin B Schneider, commander of US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), accompanied by senior air force leaders from around the world. Singh, who retires on October 31, was responding to a question on whether Washington had formally offered the aircraft to India. Last year, US President Donald Trump announced that the US was paving the way for India to acquire F-35 fighters.
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A smiling IAF chief ribbed the US general over how Indian pilots were kept at arm’s length from the F-35 during the multi-lateral combat exercise — not once, not twice, but thrice in response to questions during the 45-minute briefing, putting Washington’s tight controls on its most advanced weapons systems in the spotlight.
IAF chief-designate Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit was among the officers from 40 global air forces present.
Schneider cited Washington’s security protocols governing access to advanced weapons systems, saying such decisions were not his to make. “There are programme-level security classification guides that determine...what we’re able to share, when we share it, as well as how we protect it,” he said, responding to HT’s questions on the apparent contradiction between conducting combat drills with a defence partner and restricting access to US military technology. Policies governing such access could evolve, Schneider said, but many decisions were made centrally to ensure the protection of sensitive systems.
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Singh subsequently played down his remarks, describing them as friendly banter. “It’s like one family, an extended family, and an extended neighbourhood. You have your own boundaries for what you share and what you don’t share. So that continues everywhere. It was more of, you know, taking a dig at him (Schneider) when I said, hey, let us get even closer, we need close formation in there,” he said.
The exercise marked the first time F-35s participated in an exercise in India, with the US deploying six aircraft to Jodhpur. Russians have been pushing the Su-57 but India has not made a decision yet. New Delhi is firmly pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to develop an indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter, the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA).
“Looking ahead, the AMCA programme is an important step towards mastering fifth-generation stealth fighter technology,” defence minister Rajnath Singh said at the event.
