Trump says US will sell F-35 stealth fighter jets to India

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says that the United States will sell F-35 fighter jets to India, which would join the elite club of countries with the state-of-the-art stealth planes.

“Starting this year, we’ll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” Trump tells a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The advanced fighter jet is considered a key get for India, which has tightened its defense ties with the US over the last several years, including new port agreements and technology sharing. But the F-35 had not been on the list, in part due to India’s heavy use of Russian-made weapons systems.

The Joint Strike Fighter program is the United States’ most expensive weapon system. The Government Accountability Office has estimated the program will ultimately cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion total. There are eight development international partners in the F-35 program, and the US has signed letters of foreign military sales with 12 additional overseas customers, including Israel, South Korea and Singapore.

The F-35 has also been a target of Elon Musk. In a November “X” post admiring drone swarms, Musk said, “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”