India

[F-111 C/C]

I'm just curious why India prefers Russian aircraft over Anglo aircraft. I figure it has to be strictly a money issue. I would think that they would try harder to 'work a deal' to get better aircraft in some sense of "almost an Ally" loyalty. They have put up 25% of manufacture cost to develop the T-50 and wish to become 50/50 partners. I think with the exception of the Mirage, their aircraft have been Sukhoi/MiG/Ilyushin/etc lately. Any comments on this?

[Webmaster]

Yesterday.... The problem was that India could never rely on the US for weapons, and meanwhile it did supply Pakistan from time to time, as part of the cold war against communism. Following the 1965 war, the US stopped supplying either country weapons for some time as those weapons were meant to be there against communism not to fight eachother. Pakistan went shopping in China, India which did not/has not got a good relationship with China, developed a stronger relationship with the USSR. Meanwhile India's aviation industry started to develop, and HAL could assemble/produce MiGs. There's also the nuclear issue, and following embargos. I don't know exactly if it covered all the years, but you can understand that it wouldn't be wise for the IAF to rely on aircraft, which are subject to logistical support from a country that will embargo you when you either further develop your nuclear arsenal, or get into war with your #1 enemy. So the industry and air force has been almost entirely been Russian focused, with some exceptions, French as you said, but also British, but not very capable aircraft.

Today.... it's a bit different. The embargoes have all gone, and India can indeed get US aircraft and UK aircraft again. The Su-30MKI deal was already done, same for the Il-78 tankers. For the M-MRCA competition this is fine, F-16/F-18 competing. For the Navy fighter deal, it wasn't an option as the MiG-29Ks were part of the deal for the carrier. The Il-38 are upgrades, they already had those, but P-3/P-8 is being looked at. For the fifth generation, it is not possible to put their money on a US type, because limited tech transfer and no production would put HAL out of a job, or at least not be to the level of ambition they have.

If a Russian type gets picked for MMRCA, it's either to do with tech transfer/logistics, or excessive cost for the Western options. But I would not say it's strictly a money issue. The LCA would have been cancelled by now then, and the carrier deal as well,... it's more about industrial development and prestige!

[F-111 C/C]

Thanks for the explaining that to me

[Webmaster]

They also co-developed the BrahMos cruise missile with Russia. US would probably never supply such a weapon as it would upset 'regional stability/balance'.

[Webmaster]

I don't know if this is why you asked about it, but the F-35 was offered by Lockheed. Not in the M-MRCA competition (Lockheed offering the "F-16IN"), but to the Indian Navy. Apparently the Navy is already looking beyond the MiG-29K at options for its future carriers. I wonder if they make an exception to their tech transfer demands, if it means the Navy could get the F-35B/C. Surely other off-set deals are possible to help advance their tech, without giving them the F-35 secrets.

Full story: http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories462.htm, and the article goes on to explore the subject area, providing an answer to your original question. But then from an Indian author:

However, the Americans had proved to be unreliable in the 1960s when they made several promises for equipment after the 1962 Chinese aggression on India and did not fulfill them. Driven by its Cold War strategies and regional military alliances like SEATO and CENTO, the US always supplied the best of its weapons to Pakistan, forcing India to follow. For instance, Pakistan was the first country in South Asia to get hi-tech weapons in the 1980s when the US gave it F 16 warjets, Harpoon anti-shipping missiles, P-3C Orion Maritime Surveillance and Attack aircraft as well as Command, Control and Communications and Intelligence (C3I) computers.

India had to follow with Mirage 2000 aircraft from France and Mig 29s from the Soviet Union.