nachiket wrote:Thanks for finding that. Quite the facepalm moment.
BenG wrote:Rakesh-ji...
No -ji please. Thanks.
BenG wrote:this chief is shrewd and not a clown. Its unfortunate his intelligence does not help Tejas program or AMCA. If he wants foreign 5th gen fighter, he is directly contradicting his predecessor who said India's only 5th gen investment will be AMCA. If air chief wanted 5th gen AMCA faster, he should put efforts in that direction. I have never seen him utter anything AMCA specific like fast tracking technology demonstrator or first flight. The 'special purpose vehicle' for the purpose has not been finalized. IAF chief could have taken the lead here to help set up the joint venture company with a board that has clear objectives making it independent of HAL and other defense ministry bureaucracy. He has chosen to use MRFA to chase after F-35 instead. The institutional thinking in IAF has to change to foster an ecosystem of invention and innovation not juggad. Despite having humongous human resources capital, their efforts are largely wasted doing paper work for RFI and RFP.
When this Air Chief held the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he served as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence) at Air Headquarters. He was summoned to the Supreme Court (among other senior officers) during the Rafale court case. I believe it was him who stated that the Su-30MKI is a 3rd generation aircraft and the Rafale is a 4th generation aircraft. I wonder what yardstick Air HQ uses to determine aircraft generations.
At the recent press conference, he stated, "The quest for acquiring a 4.5 or 5th generation MRFA continues and that Air HQ has analyzed all the RFI responses." So MRFA does include fifth generation platforms, because that is what
this Air Chief is saying. However if no OEM provided a RFI of a 5th generation platform, then this discussion is pointless. But if an OEMs did respond to the RFI by providing data on their 5th generation fighter, that would be interesting. The only 5th generation platform being sold globally is the F-35, but see this tweet below.
https://twitter.com/DefenceDecode/statu ... 7ci40xgE-w ---> India is expecting shipments for the 3rd operational squadron of ADS S-400 to start arriving from Russia next month. India has till now received two squadrons of the S-400 from Russia.
Common sense suggests the F-35 is out of the mix, especially considering the above. Most Western European nations - barring France - and Allied Asian nations are buying the F-35. I don't see how or why Lockheed Martin or the US Govt would sell the F-35 to India and endanger the platform for all these other partner nations. Unless a work around arrangement can be reached to have both platforms (F-35 and S-400) operate with each other, a F-35 buy for India is going nowhere.
But if it is not the F-35, then who could potentially be the other contenders?
Japan has the Mitsubishi F-X (6th Gen Program), France has the FCAS (6th Gen Program) and UK has the Tempest (6th Gen Program). None of these will qualify, as they will be expensive to purchase and will also be out of reach (geopolitically). Turkey will not sell the TF-X (5th Gen Program) to India due to the Pakistan-Azerbaijan-Turkey nexus. That leaves only two viable sources (that I know of) and they are;
* Russia with the Su-57 and Su-75
* South Korea with the KF-21 Boramae
ACM Chaudhari visited South Korea in Dec 2021 (and he also visited Japan in May 2022). But the KF-21 could be blocked due to Uncle Sam. If that route is closed, it will only leave Russia. Could Sukhoi actually give a RFI for the Su-57 or Su-75 to Air HQ? The Su-57 was rejected once by the IAF and Su-75 exists only as a mockup. Or could KAI (Korean Aerospace Industries) get the okay to sell the KF-21 Boramae to India?
Going back to the F-35 (or any American fighter), please see the latest from Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna;
https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/157 ... 7ci40xgE-w ---> The US should make it clear to the Saudis that we will cut off their aviation parts supply & stop Raytheon & Boeing from selling to them if they cut oil output to strengthen Putin and thereby fleece Americans. We are not helpless. The Saudis depend on us.
Congressman Ro Khanna is the same individual who introduced the CAATSA waiver in the US Congress. Replacing the word 'Saudi' in the above tweet with India is very possible. Especially with India continuing to buy oil from Russia. I am glad we did not end up with the F-16 Block 70/72 during the Single Engine fighter contest. I really and sincerely hope that the IAF does not have to bear a similar ignominy above, because they went lusting after gold plated fighters, when they should be focusing on large quantities of Tejas Mk1As and Tejas Mk2s.
Just a word of caution with that strategy as well. Not that I need to mention it to either of you, but stating the obvious - the Tejas is powered by a General Electric turbofan. If Congressman Khanna can claim to stop Raytheon & Boeing from selling to the Saudis, what prevents him or another Congressman or Congresswoman from asking General Electric to terminate business with India, because the US perceives that India is not toeing the American geopolitical game plan? But my limited mango abdul knowledge tells me that is a risk that India must take. Focus on Tejas.