During the two-week multinational exercise Tarang Shakti, the United States Air Force's F-35 stealth fighters were not made available to Indian Air Force personnel — a matter that Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, as Chief of Air Staff, raised with the media at a briefing held in Jodhpur on October 10, where a senior US commander was also present. General Kevin B Schneider, head of US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), pointed to Washington's protocols for controlling access to advanced weapons systems as the basis for his response.

Six F-35 stealth aircraft were deployed by the US Air Force to Jodhpur as part of the Tarang Shakti drills, marking the first time the aircraft type participated in an air combat exercise on Indian soil. Singh told the press briefing that US personnel had kept Indian counterparts at a distance from the F-35 during interactions, and that no formal offer to purchase the aircraft had been extended to India by the United States.

Speaking to reporters, US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington was removing obstacles to a potential F-35 sale to India. According to Singh's statement, no formal purchase offer had been extended by the US to India at that stage.

Domestically developed and designed to operate without radar detection, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft — known as the AMCA — is a fifth-generation fighter jet that forms the centrepiece of India's plan to strengthen the Indian Air Force's warfighting capacity in the decades ahead. The 25-tonne aircraft is being developed as a swing-role fighter, with its design incorporating enhanced combat survivability, advanced avionics, internally housed smart weapons, high-end mission computers, full 360-degree situational awareness, and a super-cruise capability that enables sustained supersonic flight without reliance on fuel-heavy afterburners.

A tender covering the design and manufacture of five AMCA prototypes was issued to three competing bidders by the defence ministry in May, with the contract value put at ₹15,000 crore. Among those vying for the contract are Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), a joint bid from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) paired with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and a group of companies operating under the leadership of Bharat Forge.

Plans call for the AMCA's maiden prototype to take to the air around 2029, with the full development programme concluding by 2034 and series manufacture getting under way the following year. A distinct procurement pathway is anticipated for AMCA production. Under the air force's long-range modernisation blueprint, approximately 120 stealth fighters — organised into six squadrons — are scheduled to enter service from 2035 onward.

The programme is structured across two sequential development stages. Of the six squadrons planned, the opening two will fly the Mk-1 variant running on American-made F-414 engines, while the four that follow will operate the Mk-2 variant, a technically upgraded iteration whose more powerful engine is set to be produced domestically through a partnership with an overseas collaborator.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh put forward the view that the AMCA programme represents a meaningful stride toward the country acquiring command over fifth-generation stealth fighter technology. Singh also indicated that a proposed outlay of approximately ₹5,000 crore would support a domestic high-thrust aero-engine development programme, adding that engine technology — including for the AMCA — forms a part of aerospace self-reliance.

Air Chief Marshal Singh has said that prolonged setbacks in the AMCA programme could push the air force toward procuring fifth-generation stealth fighters from abroad as a stopgap. Two aircraft — the Russian-built Su-57 and the American-made F-35 — have been named among the platforms most likely to fill that requirement. No formal agreement on the Su-57 has been reached by India, despite an offer from Russia to supply the aircraft.

India's drive to hasten AMCA development comes against a regional aerospace backdrop in which China has put J-20 fifth-generation aircraft into operational service, is introducing the J-35 stealth platform that Pakistan has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring, and has conducted flight tests of two aircraft — the J-36 and J-50 — described as potential sixth-generation designs. Singh raised questions about a joint China-Pakistan programme to develop fifth-generation fighter jets, with separate accounts suggesting Pakistani pilots may already be undergoing flight training on Chinese territory and that a formal procurement of the aircraft could follow within a relatively short timeframe. Singh described the matter as one that warranted concern on October 3.

Defence planners have cited these capability developments as pointing to the case for faster induction of a fifth-generation aircraft. During Operation Sindoor, the platforms available to Pakistan were reported to have fallen short of delivering measurable results. Analysts have noted that whether newly acquired aircraft can be unified into a workable operational framework before a closing window will determine how long any advantage holds, given that the opposing side is itself working toward equivalent familiarity with the same platforms. Whether the situation amounts to an outright prohibition remains an open question, and a contrary view has been put forward on that matter. The way a platform functions, analysts have observed, depends on how it fits into and works alongside the wider systems and structures built around it.

Preliminary groundwork for joining the France-led Future Combat Air System programme — a multinational effort to develop a sixth-generation fighter — is under way on the Indian side. India's potential place in the programme remains unresolved, particularly after France and Germany stepped back from their joint involvement in June, leaving the initiative shaped differently from its original design. Should India opt to proceed, the programme would continue under a revised framework.

Where fifth-generation platforms rely on stealth and sensor fusion as their defining traits, the aircraft of the next generation are designed to anchor a broader system-of-systems architecture — one that brings together manned and unmanned platforms operating across the five domains of air, land, sea, cyber, and space.