Narendra Modi govt set to buy 200 foreign fighter jets, but they should be ‘Made in India’

India is reeling under pressure since the past couple of years, as the air force lacks the arsenal to resist a potential two-front war initiated by both China and Pakistan.

New Delhi, Oct 29: Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to give the biggest push to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the past few decades. As per news agency Reuters, Centre is mulling the plan of buying 200 foreign fighter jets, powered by ‘single-engine’, in order to boost the IAF’s arsenal. However, government has clearly underlined the condition that all the fighter aircrafts should be ‘Made in India’. According to experts, this could potentially be the largest military deal in the history of Independent India. Government is reportedly aiming to spend $13-$15 billion.

The norm laid before the weapon selling firms is that the manufacturing units should be set-up in India, and a domestic company should be taken as a partner. American defence production company Lockheed Martin, along with Sweden’s Saab have reportedly expressed interest. They have reacted positively to the offer reportedly sent out by Ministry of Defence (MoD) to various renowned companies.

Both Lockheed Martin and Saab could possibly revamp the aviation sector of India. The former has pitched up with the proposal of setting up the F-16 unit in India. Not only would it provide India with the top-end fighter jet, but also use India as the base for the F-16 exports. “Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world’s only F-16 production facility,” Lockheed Martin head business executive in India, Abhay Paranjape was quoted as saying by Reuters.

On the other hand, Saab, which has confirmed receiving the email from the MoD, has proposed to set up an aviation industry in India, along with installation of its frontline Gripen Fighter jets production unit in the nation.

According to Retired Indian Air Marshal M Matheswaran, the deal with Saab or Lockheed Martin could be the first step towards creating a domestic aviation base. He further highlighted that the earlier deals between Russia and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) only allowed licensed production and did not allow technology transfer.

India is reeling under pressure since the past couple of years, as the air force lacks the arsenal to resist a potential two-front war initiated by both China and Pakistan. Vice Chief Air Marshal BS Dhanoa had told the parliamentary defence committee IAF lacked the operational strength to take on both Pakistan and China combined.

The need to procure more fighter jets further escalated after the Rafale fighter jets deal with France’s Dassault was scaled down from 126 jets to merely 36. Despite several rounds of negotiation, the French arms deal could not be convinced to set-up production units in India.

(Source : india.com)

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