Aero India 2025: Indian skies will witness a geopolitical tussle of sorts, with the latest and most upgraded stealth fighter jets from the United States as well as Russia set to jostle for space during the Aero India 2025 taking place in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, from February 10-14.
This is the first time that Moscow has sent its fifth-generation stealth fighter Su-57 FELON to India, eyeing the Indian Air Force’s multi-billion programme to acquire 114 Medium Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA), also called the MRFA programme.
Russia’s offer to sell its fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) comes at a time when India’s own programme to build a similar fighter plane under the AMCA programme is in the doldrums while the government’s another plan to procure 114 multi-role aircraft (MRFA).
On the other hand, US defence giant Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has also offered its latest model to India. The F-35A is the US Air Force’s latest fifth-generation fighter.
Lockheed Martin has offered both its F-16 as well as F-35 for the Indian Air Force’s MRFA programme, which has been pending since 2018. In 2018, the government revamped the two-decades-old MMRCA programme into MRFA by issuing a request for information (RFI). The RFI was responded to by the US Lockheed Martin and Boeing apart from Dassault Rafale of France, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS-39 Gripen E/F and Mikoyan MiG-35, and Sukhoi Su-35.
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F-35, Su-57 In India Ahead Of Modi’s Meetings With Trump, Putin
Both F-35 and Su-57 will be showing off their power in the Indian skies when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting President Donald Trump in the US while a few weeks after that New Delhi will be hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian state-run defence conglomerate United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of the Rostec State Corporation) manufactures the Sukhoi planes.
Su-57E 5th generation aircraft, which is the export version of the aircraft, will be available at the static exposition and will take part in the exhibition’s flying display with an updated flight programme.
“India is our long-standing strategic partner, operating a significant amount of Russian aircraft. We are ready to continue the long-standing history of successful cooperation between our two countries with the development of new generations of aviation equipment,” said Vadim Badekha, UAC CEO.
Apart from the F-35, the US has also sent F-16, KC-135 Stratotanker, and B-1 bombers to India for the air show.
“The growth in Indian and U.S. bilateral defense trade has corresponded with growing interoperability through information sharing, liaison officers, training exercises, and defense enabling agreements. The importance of our partnership continues to grow, particularly as we face an increasingly complex and dynamic security environment in the Indo-Pacific,” said US Pacific Air Forces Commander General Kevin Schneider.
The Indian Air Force has been severely struggling with a depleting squadron strength for more than a decade now. Its squadron strength has come down to an all-time low of 31 compared to the required 42.
On the other hand, India’s primary adversary China has unveiled two sixth-generation fighter jets recently – Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang J-35 – making it the only country apart from the U.S. to possess multiple operational fifth-generation fighters.
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