Dangling F-35 bait, renewed US bid to scuttle MMRCA acquisition

Making a determined bid to muddy waters ahead of a crucial meeting on 4 November, which will see commercial bids made for the IAF's MMRCA tender opened and the lowest quote for the sale of 126 4++ generation fighter aircraft made public, the US Defence Department has now expressed eagerness to work more closely with India, including sharing information on its top weapons programme - the Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a much hooplaed 5th generation fighter.

''Should India indicate interest in the JSF, the United States would be prepared to provide information on the JSF and its requirements,'' including on security and infrastructure, the Defence Department said today in a congressionally mandated report on US-India security cooperation.

More joint work on science and technology ''may lead to co- development opportunities with India as a partner,'' the Defence Department said in the report.

The nine-page review of defence ties with India was prepared in response to a legislative provision sponsored earlier this year by Senate Armed Services Committee members Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican.

Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 in Texas, while United Technologies Corp makes the plane's engines in Connecticut.

Defence contractor, Lockheed Martin, set the cat amongst the pigeons in June this year when it offered the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft to India. The Cornyn-Lieberman requirement for the security cooperation report helped open an avenue to do that, Lockheed senior vice president, Patrick Dewar, said in a June interview at the Paris Air Show.