'You don’t even let us go near the aircraft': As IAF trains with F-35s, US guards secrets

An Indian Air Force officer stands outside a partition on the other side of which are US Air Force F-35s. (Image credit: US DoW)The US Air Force has been protective of the F-35 at the second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti. This was the first time that the advanced fifth-generation fighter has flown in India airspace in an operational manner. The F-35 has made appearances at the Aero India, a biennial aerospace and defence exhibition held at Yelahanka in Bengaluru. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, while seated next to General Kevin Schneider, Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, during a press conference in Jodhpur stated “Your people don’t even let us go near the aircraft, and you talk about selling it to us.” The IAF Chief also said, in response to another question that “The US did not show us the cockpit, but allowed us to fly in close formation.”General Schneider did clarify that the decision was not his to make. Programme-level security classification guides, he said, determine what can be shared, when it is shared and how it is protected.The importance of fifth-generation fightersFifth generation aircraft are built to reduce their radar cross-section through advanced composite airframes, careful shaping, internal weapons bays and radar-absorbent materials, which helps them survive in contested airspace. They also fuse data from the AESA radar, distributed aperture system, electronic warfare suite and infrared search-and-track sensors into a single real-time picture for the pilot. Designed to work in a network, they continuously receive information from airborne early warning aircraft, satellites, ground sensors and other fighters, giving pilots situational awareness that has changed how air combat is fought, giving the air crew an edge.India's own route to such a jet is the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft. Earlier this month, the Chief called for the programme to be accelerated, warning that further delays could force the service to look at alternative fifth-generation fighters. He said Russia had offered the Su-57, but no decision had been taken on it. He also voiced concern over Pakistan's reported efforts to acquire fifth-generation fighters with Chinese assistance, while maintaining that India has the capability to counter such threats through an integrated military system. At the same time the air force chief has described unmanned aerial systems as evolutionary rather than revolutionary for the IAF, which has operated them for decades. The force is expanding their number and types, he said, and loitering munitions have helped disrupt enemy air-defence assets.The air force has also flagged delays in Tejas Mk-1A deliveries, which are weighing on the IAF's declining fighter strength. The force is counting on the Tejas Mk-1A, the underdevelopment Tejas Mk-2 and additional 114 Rafale aircraft to bridge its capability gaps. On Sunday, the Chief flew a Tejas fighter from the Jodhpur airbase, his last flight before he retires on October 31. The IAF currently operates initial and final operational clearance configurations as it awaits the Tejas Mk-1A.