India looks to France for fighter jet engines as talks with the US slow down: Report

As talks with the US for the manufacturing of engines for its fighter jets are moving at a sluggish pace, India is reportedly weighing alternatives, namely French. It is still unclear if India would buy the said French engines or jointly produce them.

According to a report in Bloomberg, New Delhi is in talks with Paris-based Safran SA for engines for its fighter jets. This comes after India and the US, under Joe Biden, had agreed to power the Tejas Mark-2 with US-made GE F-414 engines. India had at that point wanted to diversify defence ties from Russia.

Talks with the US have slowed down, but the two nations are still negotiating the joint manufacturing of GE F-414 engines, stated the report. This comes in the backdrop of the tensed India-US relationship after Washington slapped a 25 per cent tariff on New Delhi and another 25 per cent for purchasing Russian oil, taking the overall tariff to 50 per cent.

Even so, a team of US Defense Department and Boeing executives were in India to negotiate the sale of about $4 billion of surveillance aircraft, the report added.

India aims to replace its British-made Jaguars and French-made Mirage-2000s, and is planning to build nearly 200 of these advanced jets. The Jaguars and Mirage-2000s are likely to be retired soon.

New Delhi’s urgency comes after it engaged in a conflict with Pakistan that saw the deployment of jets, drones, missiles, artillery and small arms along the border.

The report stated that India is facing a shortage of fighter jets and is looking to amp up production through joint ventures with global defence manufacturers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to change India’s stance as the world’s largest importer of arms to being self-reliant.