New Delhi, December 11, 2005, Rajat Pandit (Times of India)

The US is now dangling the bait of spin-offs from its futuristic fifth-generation fighter programmes if its F-16 'Falcons' and F/A-18 'Super Hornets' bag India's lucrative $6.5-billion project to acquire 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

This, incidentally, comes soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that India and Russia should now initiate expert-level talks to explore the possibility of jointly developing a fifth-generation fighter aircraft.

Another sweetener in the US offer is to help make India "a regional hub" in Asia for the production and maintenance of American-origin fighters being operated by other countries.

India, on its part, has shown interest in getting a technical presentation on the ongoing American-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project. The multi-role JSF, slated to become operational in 2008-09, will meet the futuristic needs of US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and close allies. It will, incidentally, also replace the F-16s as an air-to-ground strike fighter.

"The presentation will probably take place when US Defence Security Cooperation Agency director Lt-Gen Jeffery Kohler visits India again in March 2006. India requested it during the Indo-US Defence Policy Group meeting in Washington on November 21-23," said a US embassy official on Friday. Since the IAF contract for 126 fighters will involve technology transfer and licensed production in India, the US says the massive project will benefit from spin-offs from its F/A-22 'Raptor' and JSF programmes.

The newly-operational 'Raptor' is billed as the world's most-technically advanced fighter. It's certainly expensive at $258 million a plane, five to six times the cost of a F-16. The spin-offs to India, as Lt-Gen Kohler recently indicated, may include the latest American AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, which make fighters less vulnerable and more lethal.

Despite the aggressive US pitch to bag the IAF contract, F-16s and F-18s will have to compete against French (Mirage-2000-Vs), Russian (MiG-29 M2) and Swedish (JAS-39 Gripen) fighters. IAF officers say the contest is basically between the F-16s and Mirages. The IAF, incidentally, had earlier pitched for Mirages since it already operates three squadrons of such fighters.

But the government asked it to go in for a wider inquiry. And now, IAF is all set to issue "Request For Proposals" (RFPs) for all the five fighters after initial groundwork.

But the government asked it to go in for a wider inquiry. And now, IAF is all set to issue "Request For Proposals" (RFPs) for all the five fighters after initial groundwork.