Coward Pakistan begs US to not help India with..., will Trump agree?
In a desperate plea, Pakistan has appealed to the US not to sell F-35 stealth fighter jets to India which was offered to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by US President Donald Trump during his US visit in February. After this, when US Vice President JD Vance visited India in April, he also offered F-35 to India.
Will India take it from US?
Even though there has been no official confirmation on this, last week Defense Secretary RK Singh had definitely said, without naming US, that India is seriously considering buying stealth fighter jets from a 'friendly country.'
What Pakistan has pleaded?
Pakistan Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu who visited US has requested the US not to sell F-35A stealth fighter to India. During this time, he met US Air Force Chief General David Allwine, along with some other US military officials and some MPs. In which he requested the US officials not to give F-35 stealth fighter to India. Expressing his fear, he said that if US gives F-35 to India, then it can dangerously disturb the regional strategic balance. Pakistan, whose air force capability is much weaker and limited than India, believes that if India gets fifth generation stealth fighters like F-35A, then it will seriously affect the balance of air power in South Asia and regional strategic stability will be threatened.
Will China help Pakistan with J-35 stealth fighter jet?
Pakistan has raised this concern to the US at a time when it has reached the final stage in the process of buying J-35A stealth fighter jet from China. China's Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has built the J-35A, a twin-engine stealth fighter and is considered a competitor to the F-35. According to reports, Pakistan has ordered 40 J-35A aircraft, the delivery of which is expected to be completed in the next two years. China has speeded up production to deliver the first batch in the next 6–8 months. Apart from this, there are also reports of Pakistani pilots training with the J-35. This fighter aircraft will be equipped with long-range PL-15 or PL-17 missiles. Pakistan aims to deploy a full stealth squadron by the year 2026. Reports say that China is selling it the J-35 at a 50 percent discount.
Will India buy F-35 fighter jets from the US?
To counter the possible acquisition of J-35 stealth fighter by Pakistan and China, India is seriously considering buying advanced fighter jets like F-35A from the US or Su-57E from Russia. However, nothing has been said officially about both the aircraft. The Indian Air Force has already signed several defense agreements with the US, including MQ-9B drones, C-17, P-8I and Apache helicopters. Apart from this, the US is going to supply the engine of Tejas-1 fighter aircraft to India and talks with the US to manufacture the engine of Tejas-2 fighter aircraft have reached the final stage.
Now the Donald Trump administration is planning to offer India the F-35A stealth fighter jet specifically according to the needs of the Indian Air Force, which will include software defined radio, advanced IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system and other custom hardware according to Indian operational needs. This will be a similar customization as has been done in the Israeli F-35I 'Adir' version. This proposal was also mentioned in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi.
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