India 5th Generation Fighter jet: Fighter jets are needed, but the indigenous AMCA is not ready yet. Both the F-35 and Su-57 options have technical, strategic and political problems.
The need for a 5th generation fighter aircraft to strengthen India’s air power has been felt for a long time. But the indigenous AMCA program is not ready yet, and the picture is also not clear about the foreign options – America’s F-35 and Russia’s Su-57. In such a situation, everyone’s eyes are fixed on India’s next strategy.
AMCA is still years away
India’s indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is still in the early stages of development. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) says that its prototype will not come before 2027-28 and its operation will not start before 2036. Due to this delay, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is facing a shortage of existing squadrons.
F-35: No formal proposal has been made yet
There has been a lot of discussion about the US F-35 fighter aircraft, but the Indian government or defense experts have not yet taken a clear stand. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Parliament that “there has been no formal discussion on F-35 yet.” He referred to the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump in February 2025, in which the US had talked about reconsidering the sale policy of aircraft like F-35 to India, but it was limited to only policy review.
Why is the F-35 not an easy option?
India already has fighter jets like the Su-30MKI, Rafale, Tejas, Mirage 2000 and Jaguar. A senior IAF pilot said, “Acquiring any aircraft is not just a matter of flying it, but also seeing if it matches the existing system. The F-35 is completely integrated with the American system, which can create difficulties in syncing with India’s diverse defense structure.”
Expert Dinakar Peri says that the F-35 is state-of-the-art, but it is not the best option for India. India does not have the American fighter ecosystem and adopting it will be a very long process. He also said that if the US is not able to fully integrate the F-35 with India’s Russian, French and Israeli systems, then this aircraft will not be able to work to its full potential.
Su-57: There is an option, but there are many problems too.
Russia’s Su-57 is being considered a viable option for India because India already uses Russian aircraft. But there are many challenges associated with this option as well:
- Threat of US sanctions and political pressure
- Delivery delays
- Technical issues
- payment issues
- The difficulty of strategic coherence
However, the Su-57 also has advantages such as technology transfer and better compatibility with existing Russian systems.
IAF has a huge shortage of fighter aircraft.
Currently, IAF has only 30-31 squadrons, while the requirement is 42.5 squadrons. Indigenous options like LCA Mk1A and Mk2 were expected to fill this gap, but their delivery is also getting delayed. In such a situation, India is left with the option of buying 4th Generation Plus (4Gen+) aircraft, so that the shortage can be met till the arrival of AMCA.
Experts’ advice: 4Gen+ and LCA are more important than FGFAs
Dinakar Peri said that ‘the real problem of the IAF is not the number of 5th, but 4th generation fighters. What is needed now is to speed up LCA production and take forward programs like MRFA (Medium Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft).’ Enemy countries like China and Pakistan are rapidly increasing their fleet of fighter aircraft, making it even more important for India to fill this gap.
