Following US President Donald Trump's announcement about facilitating the supply of F-35 stealth fighters to India, Pakistan on Friday voiced concerns, warning that the move could disrupt regional military balance, weaken strategic stability, and hinder peace efforts in South Asia.
Addressing a weekly press briefing, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) said, "Pakistan is deeply concerned over the planned transfer of advanced military technologies to India. Such steps accentuate military imbalances in the region and undermines strategic stability."
He added, "They remain unhelpful in achieving the objective of a durable peace in South Asia. We urge our international partners to take a holistic and objective view of issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from endorsing positions that are one sided and deviate from ground reality."
Marking a major defence milestone, the United States announced its intention to provide India with F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 Stealth fighters,” US President Donald Trump said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On being asked whether India agreed to purchase F-35s from America following Trump's announcement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a press briefing, "On military sales to India, there is a process by which platforms are acquired. There is, in most cases, a request for proposals that is floated. There are responses to those. They are evaluated. I don't think with regard to the acquisition of an advanced aviation platform by India, that process has started yet. So, this is currently something that's at the stage of a proposal. But I don't think the formal process in this regard has started yet."
India and the US have unveiled a new initiative for their defence cooperation, the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA), aimed at scaling industry partnerships and enhancing production of autonomous systems which will foster next generation defence and technological collaboration, specifically in the field of underwater domain awareness.
The two countries also discussed the expansion of military cooperation across various domains, including air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace, with an emphasis on enhanced training, exercises, and operations, incorporating the latest technologies.
(With inputs from ANI)
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