India has sounded out the United States to consider buying advanced F-16 fighter jets for its air force, but Washington is yet to decide on the matter, US ambassador DDavid Mulford said on Tuesday "We have been contacted with an RFI (request for information). We are considering that matter at the moment. No decision has been made," Mulford told reporters ahead of Wednesday's opening of the Aero India industry show in Bangalore.
India's air force chief S.K. Tyagi told reporters on Monday that New Delhi, seeking to buy 125 fighter jets, had invited information from Lockheed Martin Corp, which makes F-16s, and also for Swedish Gripens made by SAAB, French Mirage and Russian MiG-29 fighter jets.
India has in the past relied heavily on French and Russian fighters but is now seeking to diversify.
Its MiG fighters, a legacy of close Cold War relations between Moscow and New Delhi, have also been controversial in recent years because of their numerous accidents.
US officials said India had also sent a preliminary information request for Northrop Grumman Corp's Hawkeye 2000 airborne early warning aircraft. Northrop said last week it had offered the aircraft to the Indian navy.
Mulford said the United States was keen to improve its low market share of India's defence equipment programme as the two nations strengthen a strategic relationship aided by India's economic liberalisation and a common cause in Washington's global war on terror.
"We are interested in becoming a major player in India," Mulford said, adding military co-operation was part of the strategic relationship.
At the five-day, bi-annual Aero India show, the US will display its P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft and C-130 Hercules transport plane made by Lockheed and the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter made by Boeing Co's McDonnell Douglas unit, with a possible eye on the Indian market.