India's F-35 Acquisition Plan From US May Involve Taking 'Rafale Route' - Explained

(MENAFN- Live Mint) F-35 Fighter Jet: India is currently in talks with the United States to acquire the fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35 and is likely to take the Rafale Acquisition route to procure the jets from the US, reported the news portal the Economic Times.

The Rafale deal was carried out by the government of India as the nation signed a government-to-government deal with France in 2016 to buy 36 Dassault Aviation-made Rafale fighter jets.

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In a similar way, the F-35 deal is expected to be a government-to-government deal and will be marked as an arrangement to develop the jets under the Advanced Multirole Combat Aircraft programme, as per the report.

US President Donald Trump after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the discussions and the negotiations of the deal to acquire F-35 jets will start soon and are expected to be complicated as the US will protect the high-end technology onboard the aircraft.

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Subject to the completion of this deal, India will go into the list of nations to own a fleet of F-35 jets. The nation may buy a limited number of jets due to the high cost of acquisition along with higher maintenance and operating costs.

The price of a single F-35 fighter jet is anywhere over $80 million per unit depending on which version of the aircraft is acquired, according to data collected from multiple media reports.

The number of aircraft purchased can be similar to that of the Rafale deal amounting to two air squadrons or 36 aircraft, according to the news portal's report.

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The US F-35s are designed to avoid advanced Russian air defenc systems and with India having the Russian S400 air defence systems, America's concern over the risk of access by Russian personnel is looming over India's F-35 deal, reported the news portal Times of India.

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