Sep 03, 2026 13:32 pm IST

Opinion | India Wants A 6th-Generation Fighter. But A Lot Could Go Wrong

India might just be building too many fighter jets to focus on any one of them well. A recalculcation is needed.

Manish Kumar Jha Manish Kumar Jha Columnist

Manish Kumar Jha Columnist

India's interest in sixth-generation fighter programmes is strategically understandable. It is also, at this stage, ambiguous at best. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking at a future in which a fighter aircraft will no longer be merely an aircraft. Let's be very clear: a fighter jet will be a flying command-and-control node - built around stealth, artificial intelligence, advanced electronic warfare, long-range sensing, secure communications, network-centric operations, and manned-unmanned teaming. A sixth-generation fighter is expected to operate with autonomous or semi-autonomous "loyal wingmen", drones, sensors, weapons, and other platforms as part of a connected combat system.

That is precisely why India's reported interest in international sixth-generation programmes deserves serious attention. But it should not become another fashionable acronym added to an already crowded defence-modernisation list.

Uncomfortable Numbers

India is simultaneously pursuing the Tejas Mk2, the 114-aircraft Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), and now exploring participation in an international sixth-generation programme.

Each is strategically important. Together, however, they raise an uncomfortable question: does India have the financial, industrial, technological, and institutional capacity to pursue all of them at the speed required? India looks towards global collaborations, but is ambiguous at best when it comes to planning. India's interest in the two programmes comes at a time when the global combat-air landscape is undergoing a major transformation.

The United States is pursuing its next-generation air-dominance capability (F-47), while China is working on highly classified combat aircraft J-36 and Shenyang J50. Europe and its partners are attempting to create alternatives that reduce dependence on American technology.

The opportunities are immense: getting access to the highest level of technologies, global participation, and forging strategic alliances when you build a jet........

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