On the fronts of the war for the future of the American fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet, sluggish skirmishes continue. Having achieved some success in Turkey and in the Far East, Washington decided to take a risky step: to move the plane to India. This would seem to be facilitated by the lifting of the arms embargo on Delhi, but is the South Asian power ready to accept such a generous offer?
The lifting of sanctions in the United States on military-technical cooperation against a number of large companies and departments of the Republic of India sets a new tone in relations between India and the United States. The Indian arms market is so attractive that the leading military-industrial corporations of Europe, Russia and Israel have been fighting for the right to pinch off such a delicious pie for several years now. Now the American defense industry is joining them, which will sharply exacerbate competition and allow the Indians to demand more interesting conditions for themselves in terms of technological transfer and localization of production.
However, in some matters, time has already passed. In a number of areas, the Americans will have to very hard "butt", in particular, with the Russian "defense industry", which has actually lost its powerful sales market in China, does not intend to give India to competitors at all. One of these areas is Delhi's participation in the development of a fifth generation fighter - in the FGFA program, implemented in cooperation with the Sukhoi company on the basis of the promising T-50 platform for the future Russian PAK FA aircraft.
Latecomers, please do not fuss
The United States is ready to meet halfway in the issue of including India in the international partnership part of the JSF program - the creation of the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II fighter. US Undersecretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who is in charge of procurement at the Pentagon, reported this to the press in Washington. Delhi, according to Carter, can either join the general development program or simply purchase ready-made vehicles for its Air Force.
At the same time, Carter, however, avoided answering the question to what extent Washington is ready to transfer critical technologies related to the fifth generation fighter to India. This applies not only to know-how in the design of the aircraft itself, but also to a number of solutions in terms of technological preparation of production, for example, a robotic assembly system.
Then Carter made a very awkward move regarding the open competition MMRCA, in which India plans to purchase 126 medium multi-role fighters. In an extremely dense peloton of participants (French Dassault Rafale, pan-European Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish JAS-39NG Gripen, Russian MiG-35 and American F / A-18E / F Super Hornet and F-16IN Super Viper), the Pentagon representative unmistakably highlighted the "best offers" for the price and quality of the transferred technologies. There was no surprise: Boeing's and Lockheed's applications were meant.
The answer to this "trial balloon" was quite predictable. Recently, a senior source in the Indian Ministry of Defense told the Times of India newspaper: "We cannot afford two types of fighters under the FGFA program." The interlocutor explained that a preliminary agreement on joint work on the future fifth generation Indian fighter had already been signed with Russia a month ago.
Here it is not the fact of refusal itself that is much more interesting, but the design grading demonstrated by the Indian side. The abstract idea of purchasing American technology was quite clearly refracted in the context of both open fighter aircraft upgrade programs: FGFA and MMRCA. The answer of the Indians reads unambiguously: in the MMRCA competition "Lightning" has nothing to do, but in FGFA, alas, they were late. Delhi does not intend to specifically launch a new direction of development under such a generous offer from Washington, which they hinted at quite frankly.
The opinion of the Americans about the quality of their fighters submitted to the MMRCA competition was politely ignored in India. This, incidentally, may indicate that Delhi is seriously considering American applications. In any case, two of the aircraft presented for the competition have a groundwork for the localization of future engine production. Russian RD-33s of the third series with an increased resource for the MiG-29 family are already being produced in India. Additionally, RD-33MK samples were purchased, on which a nozzle with a deflected thrust vector can be installed, such engines are used in the MiG-35. And the agreement on the industrial assembly of the GE F414 engines (installed on the Superhornets) was signed during a recent visit to Delhi by President Obama.
Positional battles for perspectives
In other directions, export prospects for the F-35 look somewhat better. Recently, several messages have arrived confirming the fulfillment of obligations by foreign partners in the implementation of the JSF program.
Turkey, which had previously participated in the JSF on rather vaguely formulated conditions, made its requests more concrete. Ankara assured that it is ready to purchase F-35 aircraft, specifying in the agreement that it is about 116 aircraft. In addition, another three dozen F-16C / D block 50 fighters will be purchased in a package with them.
Japan, worried about the military strengthening of China, signed an "unpublished" protocol with the United States regarding Tokyo's role in the JSF program. As noted by a number of observers, this could mean that the F-35 will receive a decisive advantage in the F-X competition to select a future fighter for the Japanese Air Force. About 50 new aircraft will have to replace the F-4EJ Phantom II aircraft, which have been in service with the Self-Defense Forces of the Land of the Rising Sun since 1973.
Earlier, Japanese diplomatic sources reported that the American "Lightning" was considered as one of the possible options. Aircraft products of the United States and previously enjoyed a priority in the procurement policy of the Japanese military department. Tokyo has expressed interest in acquiring a hypothetical export version of the F-22 Raptor fighter, but at the moment these aircraft are fundamentally not supplied abroad. Now, apparently, the choice will be finally made in favor of another specific sample of the fifth generation, which is experiencing problems with getting into the announced schedule of export contracts.
The situation on the foreign market for Lightning is unpleasant, but quite bearable. Of course, the Indian defense orders for the fifth generation are potentially one of the most interesting areas, but the situation there is already not in Washington's favor.
When the American aircraft is finally brought to mind both in terms of technical flaws and in the sense of not quite adequate cost, it will be able to take a noticeable place in the world market of modern aviation. The only question is how much time, nerves and opportunities the American aviation industry will miss in the process of this fine-tuning.
