Why India is eyeing France’s next-generation combat aircraft tech amid jet shortage

India is looking to join France’s sixth-generation fighter programme in a long-term bid to secure a role in the next era of air warfare, from advanced aircraft technology to the industrial work of designing and building future combat systems.
But analysts said the move, while potentially a major step in India’s defence partnership with France, would do little to ease the country’s immediate shortage of combat jets.
The defence ministry told Indian lawmakers last week that it had “initiated...