US President Donald Trump announced its intention to open up access to the purchase of F-35 fighters, despite the fact that the New Deli has previously acquired the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems and escaped sanctions under the CAATSA law (“On Countering the opponents of America through sanctions “).
Speaking at a joint press conference with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House, Trump emphasized that Washington intends to strengthen defense cooperation with New Delhi.
“From this year we will increase the volume of our military supplies of India by billions of dollars and open the way to transfer it to the F -35 fighters,” the American leader said.
Earlier, the United States refused to impose sanctions against India within the framework of the CAATSA for the purchase of the S-400, motivating this with the strategic importance of New Delhi in the opposition of China in Southeast Asia.
This decision caused the discontent of Ankara, who was sanctions for a similar deal with Moscow.
India entered into a contract for the purchase of Russian S-400 in October 2018 in the amount of $ 5.8 billion, and the first batch of systems was delivered in December 2021.