After losing a ten-billion-dollar tender for the supply of 126 medium fighters for the Indian Air Force, aircraft manufacturers from America decided to go all-in. They offered Delhi modern 5th generation machines.
The US media only talk about the fact that Lockheed Martin may again become a participant in the Indian tender, since they provided instead of the F-161N Super Viper, which did not make it to the final, a completely different aircraft - the F-35 Lightning II. So the giant of the foreign defense industry, which flew out with the MMRCA, tried to return.
Fruitless promises
"Lights" are offered to Indians for the second time. Lockheed has already promised the Indian military to create favorable conditions in future purchases of the F-35, wishing to persuade Delhi to buy a new modernization of the F-16. But Super Viper was defeated in the competition. And promises in the future to receive an unworked plane in exchange for the adoption of the F-16s by the Indian Air Force, did not succeed. Lockheed are now raising the stakes, replaying the situation.
If we ignore the unfinished business and the price, which is abnormal even for the US budget, then the F-35 is a promising car. Considering it through the prism of the Indian tender, it becomes interesting because the developers originally planned the deck-based vehicle. This feature is among the competitive requirements for cars.
It is clear that the pilots of the Indian Navy will not fly with only one carrier-based aircraft. This is against the rules of the policy that has already taken shape in Delhi. Obviously, someone else will be added to our MiG-29K. Experts suggest that the choice will be on a special version of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The basis for this assumption is the likelihood of the European consortium's promise to join aircraft manufacturers from India to the design of the Eurofighter.
In this regard, the F-35 is quite competitive, but, apparently, it was offered in an unnecessary format. Later it turned out that India did not intend to consider the delayed nomination of the F-35 for the tender. Indian military officials say the finalists have already been finalized, and it would be unfair to include another participant who did not qualify like the others. Indian Defense Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kara said: “The tender is well advanced and any newcomer is too late to appear” (quoted by the Financial Times).
The F-35 has one remaining loophole to India - India's desire for a fifth-generation AMCA lightweight fighter. But there are some essential conditions here too. The program provides for a considerable set of "native" Indian manufactures and developments. It is unlikely that this project will be redone for the purchase of a finished Lockheed Martin machine.
Our and not our problems
To create a lightweight 5th generation Indian fighter, one simple question must be solved: with whom to create it? Do not take into account the fact that in India most of the 5th generation market is occupied by Russia. This is an FGFA project representing a unique localization of our PAK FA. Whichever side you approach, but there are only two countries that can technically support India's ambitions - the United States and Russia.
Further, the following considerations are relevant. It would seem that diversifying technology suppliers and reducing the risk of possible losses is what the Indian military needs. By this logic, the choice of the F-35 for the FGFA pair is obvious. However, the United States has an unfinished plane, and Russia now has nothing to offer, but this is even better.
The whole catch is that for the AMCA project, the Indians want to provide their own developments, even by borrowing individual nodes, and not buy ready-made solutions and localizations. The United States is reluctant to transfer its documentation and technology on military equipment. In this case, it is the know-how that is in demand among the Indians.
It is quite possible that history will repeat itself at the MMRCA competition, when the Americans struggled to support their manufacturers, who wanted to sell almost the entire technological process and related industries to Delhi for $ 10 billion.
Will Russia be able to make good use of such a potentially advantageous situation? At the moment, our military-industrial complex does not have a machine suitable for the required format. And most importantly, it is unclear whether he will at least be in the future. This segment of aircraft construction was last updated at the end of the 80s, when the preliminary design LFI 4.12 was developed to replace the MiG-29. But he was forgotten, all forces were thrown on the then heavier line MiG 1.42 / 1.44, which unsuccessfully competed with the projects of the Sukhoi Design Bureau for the right to become a vehicle for the PAK FA program at the end of the 1990s.
Is selling technological illiquid assets and the remaining competencies of developers and scientists a new way to support engineering schools, preserve and strengthen them for the future. Our aircraft manufacturers create the same strange R&D for the defense complex with China. Why not cooperate in the same way with India, which has traditionally been open to the import of know-how.
