NEW DELHI, Aug. 8 -- India is taking steps to join a France-led programme for the development of a sixth-generation fighter aircraft, the defence ministry informed a Parliamentary panel that tabled its report in both Houses on Friday. "The Ministry of Defence has initiated efforts in a concerted manner to co-join the 6th Generation Fighter Aircraft Development Programme viz. Future Combat Air System (FCAS) spearheaded by the French Government," the ministry told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest, had earlier zeroed in on two global consortia-France, Germany, and Spain (FCAS) and the UK, Italy and Japan (Global Combat Air Programme) -hoping to join forces with one of them to develop the sixth-generation fighter aircraft. India's pathway to joining the France-led initiative remains unclear, as FCAS no longer exists in its originally envisaged format-France and Germany scrapped the joint project in June. If India decides to move ahead, the programme may progress under a new arrangement. "Detailed status report in development of acquisition of Sixth-Generation (6G) Aircrafts and any roadmap prepared along with tentative timeline for acquisition of such Aircrafts may be given at the time of submitting Action Taken Statement for the perusal of the Committee," the panel said in its report. India is likely to join a global consortium developing a sixth-generation fighter aircraft-the world's most advanced-because the IAF does not want to lag in deploying this capability to meet future air threats, then Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan told the panel that tabled a report on the subject in March too....