The United States expressed interest on Wednesday in selling its most sophisticated fighter to India, just six months after New Delhi rejected two older US warplanes in a competition for an $11 billion contract.
The US Defence Department, in a report to Congress on US -India security cooperation, said if New Delhi indicated an interest in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon would be willing to provide information on the aircraft’s security and infrastructure requirements.
“The F-35 is something that we would be more than willing to talk to the government of India about should they request to find out more information about purchasing it,” said Robert Scher, deputy assistant secretary of defence for South Asia.