Prof. Prodyut Das 2

  The Lockheed Martin F 35:   An Indian Appraisal Part 1                     Prof. Prodyut Das Some time back I was approached by a Twitter-er who suggested I do an appraisal on the LM F 35. I have improved on the suggestion and decided to comply to the request in two parts. The first and present part is what I think about the programme which achieved much more than is generally credited and the F 35 really is, to repeat Alexander Yakovlev sixty years ago (after he had examined the wreckages of the ex-Vietnam Phantoms!),“Without a doubt t echnically (nota bene!)   the Phantom II is a triumph for the US Aerospace Industry”. This in no ways means I support acquisition of the F 35 by India. Neither do I think the F 35 is a very suitable warplane for us. The F 35 is the usual case of US case of overkill done largely because technically the US can do these things and thanks to NATO, its marketing arm, sell it for good profits.   The “An Indian Appraisal” bit means that this is mainly a