"We will look into it with an open mind": Defence Secretary on American offer for F-35 fighter jets

New Delhi [India], February 17 (ANI): Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Monday said India would be looking with an "open mind" to US President Donald Trump's offer to sell F-35 fighter jets to India.
Speaking to ANI, Singh clarified that the offer has not been formally made and that the US would be exploring a roadmap to make the F-35 available.
"It is not an offer yet. What he (Trump) said is that they will look at a roadmap to make that (F-35) available. We will look into the offer after it becomes a firm offer. In any case, our procurements are done through a process... Creating an option is important for us and we will look into it with an open mind," Singh said.
He further emphasised that India's procurement process will guide any future decisions, highlighting that the Defence Ministry has a procurement plan in place.
He mentioned that India has a large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year and Rs 1,60,000 crore for the current year, which will be used for various procurements.
"The Defence Ministry has a procurement plan for the kinds of things you have mentioned (fighter planes, submarine and missiles). But obviously those will be announced only after the procurement process is complete... Yes, there are plans... Obviously, India has a very large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year and about Rs 1,60,000 crore for this financial year and we will intend to utilise them through these procurements," the Defence Secretary said.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, while addressing the joint press conference, US President Donald Trump had stated that the United States would be increasing the defence sales with India with billions of dollars. He added that his administration is paving the way to provide India with F-35 aircraft.
"Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters," Donald Trump said.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is the most widely deployed fifth-generation fighter air craft. (ANI)