The government said on Friday that there has been no formal discussion on the sale of F -35 fighters jets. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha about the possible sales of India to India, Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh wrote, “There has been no formal discussion on the issue yet.”
The minister remarked that he said in February, India and the United States had issued a joint statement that the US would “review the fifth generation fighters (eg F -35) and the underest system for India will review their policy.”
The statement came in response to the query of MP Balwant Baswant Wankhed, seeking whether India received any official proposal from the US about the sale of F -35 fighter jets.
In February this year, US President Donald Trump said the US was paving the way for India to provide India with F -35 secret fighters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting America at that time.
Donald Trump said at a press conference with PM Modi at the White House, “From this year, we will increase military sales in India with many billions of dollars. We are eventually paving the way for India to provide India with F -35 stealth fighters.”
However, even after just one month in March, the head of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said that India had not seen the possible sales, and there was no proposal from the US yet.
Earlier on Thursday, A Bloomberg The report stated that India had informed the US that it was “not eager to buy F -35 stealth fighter jets”. The report came to Trump’s 25 percent tariff and a few hours after the announcement of penalty for India, which the US President blamed India for buying oil and weapons from Russia on a large scale.
However, there is no official confirmation on this report.
F -35 developed by Lockheed Martin is called one of the world’s most advanced and versatile fighter jets. There are three major variants for jets: F -35A, designed for traditional takeoff and landing, f -35B, capable of short takeoff and vertical landing, and F -35C, a carrier -based model.
