Shiv that was an interesting angle about Indians supporting the efforts of Indians and others but you seem to have a concern which I don't share. Confidence is born out of a track record and that is why I am as certain that the JSF will resolve itself sooner than any other 5th Gen fighter as I am that there will be more problems along the way. That is how the JSF program is designed--
operational aircraft in an ongoing developmental effort--to make problem solving more practical and quick. And that is how some of the most successful aircraft were "ironed out"--the P-51, Spitfire and MiG-21. The bottom line: the JSF is way ahead of any other 5th Gen airplane today bar the Raptor and it is a revolutionary concept that is bound to have a profound effect on how air forces are structured. Put another way, it *must* succeed for its partners and therefore it will.
Indians in general are quite capable of showing an equally high degree of confidence and support for similar Indian efforts and achievements, for eg organizations like ISRO, an educational system that has created a world-beating class of technocrats, a confident Indian private sector that is taking on the world, a confident Indian middle class, our info tech and R&D excellence and so on. So I don't worry about Indians supporting and cheering Indian efforts at achieving excellence of a global standard even though nobody gave us a helping hand in these spheres either. What I worry about is Indians supporting mediocrity just because it is Indian. That seems counterproductive to me.
Coming back to my post that drew your comment, as long as we are dependent on outsiders for our weapons, I believe it is crucial that we partner with the Americans more than anyone else now in every way we can and I am trying to provide some balance on this thread for what I see as a reflexive and irrational hatred of anything American by perhaps a vocal minority, based on a lopsided view of history. I am relieved that this attitude is not shared by the GoI or IAF as they have quickly purchased the American aircraft and weapons they think are right for the moment without hesitation. If the Americans are prickly allies, then we should be confident enough to not get pricked and behave accordingly, which is exactly what we have done.
Yes, the yanks did arm the pakis knowing full well that their weapons would be used against us but so did the French and Germans, the very same people we are depending on for the MRCA. The Russians have been the leading supplier of arms and arms technology for china (and therefore the pakis). Even after every single aircraft, engine, gun, tank, missile, submarine and ship was reverse engineered by the chinese, they still partnered with them for the Su-30MKK to do an equal-equal with the MKI and probably gave them the J-20 tech too. Arguably, this should be even more distateful to India than the American actions since it is the chinese who are the more dangerous foe. But I'm not against the Russians, French or Germans because of this. It's business and realpolitik and we have to deal with it the best we can.
Now my support for the JSF in IAF colors (in addition to the MRCA, not instead of it): Given the condition of Russia's crumbling tech base, political uncertainty and the global economy, I have zero confidence that the PAKFA will arrive and if it does, be anywhere close to the JSF although it may be comparable to the J-20. Our AMCA will most likely not be available in the timeframe that most of us percieve as critical--the next 5-10 years. The Rafale and Typhoon are yesterday's airplanes with unproven AESA radars and MRCA capabilities (with some reservation on the Rafale) but again, they are superior to the immediate threats we face. But they are not stealth aircraft by any stretch and regardless of what anyone says about how useless stealth is nowadays, everyone is going after it hammer and tong. The Americans are the only ones who have proven stealth technology and we are being offered the JSF but instead of support for it, there is an eagerness to lap up and regurgitate on this and related threads, everything published by anti-JSF authors like Bill Sweetman, an Englishman who has admitted that the success of the JSF will mean the death of European fighter production for ever. And the Aussie Kopp who, like a spoilt brat, will settle for nothing less than the Raptor and is p!ssed that the Americans won't give it to him. Note that neither of these gentlemen are anti-American, quite the contrary in fact. Sweetman prefers to live in America and Kopp knows that if it weren't for the yanks, his country's air force would be stark naked. There are others in the US itself who don't like the JSF but these guys are bad mouthing the JSF for reasons of their own that should have absolutely no bearing on India but some of us are embracing them nevertheless. After all the negative press, I would be surprised if Sweetman were to tweet this about the
1st JSF delivered to the Brits a few weeks ago:
..we are providing the men and women of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy with unmatched 5th Generation capabilities, while delivering advanced technology sector jobs to the U.K..