US Offers Super F-16 Fighters to India

The U.S. is offering to sell supercruise capable F-16 fighters to the Indian Air Force. In 1977, General Dymanics developed the F-16 SCAMP, an F-16 modified with a delta wing configuration and with supercruise capability. Supercruise refers to a jet fighter that can cruise at supersonic speeds, whereas most jet fighters use gas-guzzling afterburners to achieve supersonic speeds. The SCAMP was entered into a 1980 competition to replace the F-111 as the F-16XL. but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle, largely on the basis of cost-effectiveness. The supercruise idea has been revived in the modern F-35 and F-22 fighter aircraft, and presumably this proposal means dusting off the engineering for the SCAMP program. The proposed F-16IN would also have phased array radar, passive heat sensors, and the most advanced electronics of any existing F-16 model.

These F-16s would be the most capable ever built, and certainly far more advanced than the older models sold to India's rival Pakistan. India is currently in the market for 126 light, modern fighter aircraft, and is willing to pay premium prices to get them. These upgraded F-16s would be very competitive with the current roster of "Generation 4.5" fighter aircraft (the Su-30, Eurofighter, Rafale, F-18E Super Hornet).

An Indian purchase of American fighters would represent a revolution in Indian arms procurement. Heretofore, India has purchased most of their weaponry from Russia (and the Soviet Union before that), with a little bit of French equipment sprinkled in (given that India is currently embroiled in a pair of defense procurement bribery scandals involving France, it is doubtful that a French bid will be seriously considered). Today, India stands as the single largest customer for Russian-made weaponry. The only American aircraft currently in service with the Indian Air Force are Boeing 737s serving as communications platforms. However, India is bitterly upset that Moscow recently allowed the Chinese to use Russian manufactured jet engines to be re-exported in Chinese fighters destined for Pakistan. Also, after more than 50 years of marked ambivalence, relations between New Dehli and Washington have been growing notably warmer. Should India make such a major arms deal with the United States instead of Russia, it would mark a sea change both in the international arms trade, and in India's relations with both the U.S. and Russia.