Indian Air Force: Stealth Fighter Conundrum & the Acquisition Maze

The glacial pace at which the Indian defence acquisition procedure progressions happen the Indian Air Force [IAF] could continue to remain short of at least 12 squadrons in the coming decade if not more.

What is critical is the deficiencies in generational fighters with the IAF. The IAF’s quest for a Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft which commenced in 2007, should have fructified by 2013-14 with acquisition of the Rafale fighter from the French Dassault stable. However, multiple delays in commercial negotiations, liability clause and offsets programme followed by a change of the government from the Congress led UPA to the BJP led NDA implied that only 36 were inducted through a government-to-government agreement and now in service.

The Rafale is a 4.5 generation fighter while a similar category has been up for consideration of acquisitions in the Multi Role Fighter MRFA programme of the IAF for at least half a decade now but there is no light at the end of the tunnel so to say.

Meanwhile production of the LCA Mark 1 A, the DRDO-HAL 4.5 generation fighter continues to be delayed.

Pak Acquisition of Chinese J 35

What could perhaps accelerate IAF quest is acquisition of the J 35 – fifth generation fighter from China by Pakistan. In a series of tweets on 6 June, Pakistani leader Shehbaz Sharif claimed that the country has received an offer for 40 J-35 fighters, as well as an unspecified number of Shaanxi KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The J-35 is China’s stealth fighter which has been compared to the F 35 but with twin engines.

The contest between the IAF and Pakistan Air Force [PAF] has intensified after claims by the PAF that No 15 Sqn, which operates the J-10C, brought down three Dassault Aviation Rafales and three other jets: a Dassault Mirage 2000, an RAC MiG-29, and a Sukhoi Su-30. India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan has denied loss of six fighters though accepting that there were some tactical setbacks faced indicating that some without naming the category would have been lost.

While downing of the IAF fighters is seen as a part of Pakistan's larger strategic communication campaign, acquisition of J 35 fifth generation fighters by the PAF would need rapid acquisition of parallel fighter and air defence capabilities.

Given the Indian government’s determination to seek a new normal in countering terrorist attacks by Pakistan by launching a punitive strike soonest on occurrence of an attack, precision air strikes will remain the most likely option.

The degree of difficulty in a scenario where Pakistan would be fielding fifth generation fighters and air defence systems will correspondingly increase. Moreover, the IAF will have to contend with a possible PAF counter strike in such a scenario wherein employment of the J 35 stealth fighter will pose challenges despite fielding systems as the S 400 imported from Russia which performed creditably in Operation Sindoor in May 2025.

Options for Fifth Generation Fighters for the IAF

The IAF has several options for acquisition of a fifth generation fighters, though none of these appear to be in a short term horizon which may be essential for facing the fused Pak China aerospace challenge.

The indigenous AMCA programme is one option but realistically speaking an operational fighter induction in the IAF could be anticipated only by 2034, by which time possibly PAF would have fully absorbed the J 35 in the operational combat profile.

While Russia has offered Su 57, the stealth characteristics of the same remain suspect despite the superlative performance during Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru.

Another option is the US F 35 which the United States President Donald Trump mentioned in the Joint Statement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year, there were no formal proposals so far.

Moreover, analysts were concerned of restrictions likely to be placed by the United States in employment of the fighter given tight End User monitoring and the so called ‘kill switch’.

Despite these restrictions, there is a realistic opportunity of acquisition of the F 35 by the IAF with Defence India Forum stating that at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference on May 28, 2025, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet offered an enhanced F-35 to new customers as India. The company is now looking at expanding the F 35 export envelope having lost the US Air Force, sixth-generation fighter competition to Boeing – F 47.

Cracking the Indian Acquisition Puzzle

Yet despite the options Russian and the American for speedy acquisition of a fifth generation fighter, it remains to be seen if the IAF and the Ministry of Defence is able to crack the maze of India’s acquisition puzzle.