India has always regarded China as its competitor, especially in the military sphere, and India aspires to surpass China. And China's fifth-generation fighters are already in service, which upsets India. India is eager to develop its own fifth-generation fighter jets, and there seems to be a glimmer of hope in the near future.
Not so long ago, India celebrated Republic Day with a grand military parade. According to the current state of US-India relations, the United States should have been there to congratulate in person, but Biden was too busy with domestic and foreign affairs to withdraw, so France's Macron attended the event in his place, giving India enough face. Macron can still watch India's military parade without changing his face, which shows that he still attaches great importance to India.
France gave India not only face, but also "lining". During Macron's visit to India, India's ambassador to France announced that France's Safran is willing to help India's domestic fifth-generation fighter jets and transfer 100% of its technology to India to support the research and development of MACA's advanced medium fighter jets. This news sounds like a big positive for Indians, and if they can get the full support of a European power like France, won't India's fifth-generation fighter be just around the corner?
But is it really that simple? After decades of development of China's aero engine, the J-20, as China's fifth-generation fighter, took more than seven years to develop just the basics.
Let's first understand what this Safran group in France does.
It is a French high-tech multinational conglomerate, one of the world's top 500 companies, and two of the company's four core specialties are related to aerospace. This includes the development and production of aerospace engines, especially for military aircraft, and the group is well known in France and around the world. In this way, the French company seems to have the ability to provide India with high-quality aero engines, plus it itself is a research aerospace vehicle, and if it cooperates deeply with India, it seems that the fifth generation fighter will be born.
However, imagination is always beautiful, but reality is cruel. At present, in the world, only China, the United States and Russia (some indicators of the Su-57 do not meet the standards of the fifth generation fighter) can independently develop the fifth generation fighter. No other country has the capacity to do this, including France, of course.
Although France also has its own plans for a future air combat system, but that is only a plan, and the corresponding technical level has not yet been reached. If Safran really has the ability to produce and develop fifth-generation fighters, or even fifth-generation fighter engines, then the French team should be the first to use them, how can it be India's turn?
In fact, although Safran is very famous in the world, in the field of military industry, especially in cutting-edge technologies such as aero engines, the engines produced by this company should be similar to the F414 aero engine produced by General Motors of the United States, and the thrust-to-weight ratio can reach more than nine. The turbofan 15 high-thrust engine specially built by China for the fifth generation fighter can conservatively estimate that its thrust-to-weight ratio can also reach 10,15A thrust of 8 tons is a breeze.
In other words, even if this company transfers all its technology to India, it will not be able to meet the requirements of the fifth generation fighter. Whether the Indians know this or not, the French must know it in their hearts. How can you do something you can't do for someone else?
Therefore, it is almost impossible for India to reach the level of China's fifth-generation fighters in a short period of time through simple technology purchases and material purchases. Military technology in this cutting-edge field can only be developed step by step by itself, and there are no shortcuts. If India is lucky in this regard, it can only be said that it is asking for hardship.
Finally, let's talk about why the French promised India when they knew they couldn't do it.
The French did this, on the one hand, taking into account the military industry between France and India**. The Indian Air Force has now used French Rafale fighter jets, as a regional power, India's demand for military products is huge, the French are very shrewd, as long as India has enough expectations, it can firmly grasp this big market, so as to enhance France's military industry**.
On the other hand, France itself has little confidence in the fifth-generation fighters, and it would be good to be able to use the fifth-generation fighters produced by itself in the middle of this century. I have to say that the French are playing this calculation very loudly, and even we in China can hear it.
In short, ordinary technology can be obtained in the short term by purchasing, but the possibility of high-end military technology being improved in a short period of time in this way is zero, and India is no exception.