The Pentagon is moving fast to cement its newfound friendship with India. USAF has staged two major air combat exercises—”Cope Indias”—in the past 18 months. Now comes word that Washington is weighing a possible sale of F-16 fighters equiped with he new Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar. In an interview with Reuters news service, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Pentagon’s security assistance office, said the US is considering the radar sale as part of a $5 billion deal for more than 120 fighters. Reuters quoted Kohler as saying, “Their pilots [would] come to our schools. We’ll train with them. We will work very closely with their maintenance technicians.” The question, as always, is how Pakistan will react.
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.