As India accelerates its quest for next-generation fighter aircraft (NGFA) – i.e., planning to spend ₹15,000 crore ($1.8B USD) on its domestic AMCA program and weighing a $20B+ import deal – it is fundamentally misreading the threat.
The obsession with matching Pakistan’s acquisition of the J-35AE stealth fighter is a classic case of strategic myopia: preparing to fight the last war instead of the next one.
The true danger isn’t the J-35AE as a standalone platform. Rather, the real disruption is the large system-of-systems architecture the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is building around it.
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Slim Chances for the F-35
As discussed in a recent Defence Uncut episode, the challenge of inducting the F-35 for India is that it is not just a standalone fighter. Rather, it is a comprehensive package with the core fighter as a focal point, but surrounded by a technology stack that impacts communications, munitions, and even maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).
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