The United States showed off its new advanced aircraft in Bangalore, India, this week in an effort to push the Indian government away from relying on Russian military equipment.

For the first time ever, a U.S. delegation to the week-long Aero India exhibition brought over the F-35C Lightning II along with multiple F-16 Fighting Falcons, twin-engine Super Hornets, and B-1B bombers.

India reportedly is receptive to switching its primary supplier from Russia to the U.S. Sanctions caused by the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine are making supplies challenging to come by, and India's supply of Soviet-era fighter jets is decaying.

Meanwhile, Russian Rosoboronexport had only a modest presence at Aero India. Despite having a central position in past shows, the state-owned weapons exporter only had a joint stall with United Aircraft and Almaz-Antey this time.

Despite assurances that the appearance of the F-35s was "not a sales pitch," Maj. Gen. Julian C. Cheater, the U.S. Air Force's assistant deputy undersecretary of International Affairs, had this to say about them: “The F-35 represents the leading edge of U.S. fighter technology. Aero India is an ideal forum to showcase the most advanced, capable, lethal, and interoperable weapons systems the U.S. has to offer. This system, and others, are designed to penetrate and defeat advanced adversary air defenses."

After the show on Friday, an Indian Air Force source told Reuters that New Delhi maintains its public posture that F-35s are still not being considered "as of now."

However, Rear Adm. Michael L. Baker, defense attache at the U.S. embassy in India, said the country was in the "very early stages" of considering whether it wanted the state-of-the-art fighter jet.

Breitbart said Boeing executives confirmed that India has been interested in the F-35 since 2010 but is also considering new aircraft from Russia, such as the Su-75 single-engine fighter from Rostec.

Replacing Russia as the primary supplier to India will be an uphill battle for the U.S.

Russian state news agencies reported prior to the show that Moscow has supplied India with around $13 billion of arms over the past five years, with future orders for weapons and military equipment totaling $10 billion.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

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