Neither of them are doing any 'deep' striking. Pakistan has no depth while China's developing a very formidable A2/AD capability, to the point where its giving the USN/USAF brass sleepless nights.vina wrote:3. The MMRCA contest has turned out to be NOT winner takes all. The French got a "consolation" price of 36 airframes. That I think will be for the nuclear strike role for the IAF which it doesnt want to give up. The Rafale is fine for that, it can self deploy and protect itself in deep strike missions.
4. The remaining part of the 126 odd MRCA has gone to the F16. This is a single engine, low cost, fully mature fighter. Perfect for multi role deep strikes and A2A roles. This will be cheap to maintain and run and with the advanced logistics, maintenance and support practices it will approach unprecedented availability and reliability in IAF. In fact, it might turn out to be the most reliable and available fighter in IAF service ever . (think of availability like a civil commercial airliner).
5. Remember, the F16 is a MEDIUM category aircraft . The BLK 70 will weigh in at 9 to 9.5 tons empty, 13 tons Loaded and MTOW of 21 Tons. For perspective, the Tejas weighs in at around 6 tons empty , 9 tons loaded and a MTOW of around 13.5 tons. The Gripen E /NG is a 7 ton empty wt fighter.
8 tons empty (7 tons was only on paper).
Could I ask where you're getting your numbers from?7. The MK2 will be a totally IN baby, which is perfect. They can concentrate on making a plane the want, without the Air Force interfering. In fact the IN badly NEEDS it. The Mig 29K by all accounts is an endangered species and will soon be extinct. The Navy needs a fighter that is single engine and cheap. The only other alternative is F-35 and the carrier borne versions and VTOL versions are above $300m per pop and simply unaffordable.
The US isn't sharing AESA or IR tech with anybody. And if anybody else comes along offering to do so, it would be wise to keep a bit of salt handy.8. Expect the following. Engine order goes to GE. You will see GE engines for F110 and F404 series being assembled in India, with hand holding to develop the engine for the AMCA. Also I would expect negotiation for a fab for GaAs/GaN , IR seeker kind of thing to take place as part of offsets . The critical gaps in tech the LCA program hasn't been able to fill is in engines and seekers . It filled in everything else (structures, FCS ,avionics)
Tech Transfer Hobbles South Korea's Fighter Program
The KF-X is linked to Lockheed Martin’s sale of 40 F-35As to South Korea under the F-X III program through the Foreign Military sales process. Lockheed Martin offered to provide 21 technologies required to build the KF-X fighter jet as part of F-X III offset deals. The US aircraft giant was also selected as the main partner to build KF-X with Korea Aerospace Industries.
At the request of Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Lockheed Martin also agreed to consult with the US government over the transfer of four more technologies related to the active electronically scanned radar (AESA), electro-optical targeting pod, infrared search-and-rescue systems, and radio frequency jammer.
In April, however, the DAPA received notice of the refusal to transfer the four technologies, according DAPA officials.