Drevin wrote:If I may say so, I feel that the IAF's procurement decisions are looking absurd to be very polite.
Yes got to agree with you about the cost-control failure. But the new entrants in the rfp sure look on par with the hawk. These new generation trainers have caught up in all the areas apropos hawk. Also, sometimes diversifying maybe a necessary evil. We don't know the real situation on the ground with regard to parts. Is this an indication of the way the mrca will also go ???
its not a question of whether or not they are on par or even better than the Hawk. the point is that the IAF first insisted that the Hawk met ALL its requirements, and had all American parts switched (so that it was more reliable from a future sanction proof supply POV), which is why it was alright in the first place to pay a slight premium to get them in place of the MiG-AT, L-159, etc. and now all of a sudden, after inducting the Hawk with much fanfare, they're looking at a new AJT ! there was no issue with BAe as a supplier, because they're not like the US when it comes to being unreliable and sanction prone.
besides, its not like an AJT is going to be used to train pupils in Star Wars kind of warfare. they are to train pilots the basics of transonic flight and basics of combat, before they graduate onto more complicated fighters. and while the Hawk's airframe may be older than the Yak-130 (and its clone, the M-346), T-50, etc. its not like the IAF is going to use its AJTs for frontline combat. all training is done using simulations through avionics on all of these AJTs, and the Hawk 100 series have the same facilities, where mock bogeys are generated on the simulated radars on the MFDs..you don't require a radar on the AJT, you can simulate one with software ! if you do require a radar, then why issue an RFP to MiG-AT or Yak-130, which are also radarless ? why issue an RFP to BAe all over again at all ?!
if there were some shortcomings in the Hawk Mk.132 (which I find hard to believe, since its one of the most modern Hawks around), then it made much more sense to make efforts to tackle the shortcomings by upgrading the avionics in the second batch, instead of again going through another AJT procurement process.
the GoI should've put an end to this circus, where every other bloody aviation company has an IAF RFP in its hands. and I'm not exaggerating here ! Boeing, Bell, Dassault, Saab, MiG, EADS, Kamov, Mil, Agusta Westland, Alenia, Yakovlev, KAI, Lockheed Martin, BAe, Eurocopter are all in receipt of some tender from the IAF/IA. its like a child who wants to test every single toy in the shop and refuses to down-select at least a few to reduce the time/effort spent in the selection process or reduce the number of types to reduce the maintenance/logistics/training/ headaches..I can hardly believe it that just a couple of months ago, ACM Major had stated that the IAF wanted to reduce types in inventory.
the only explanation that makes sense to me is that the IAF is trying to drive down the follow-on order price from BAe by making it appear that they're willing to induct a new type if the price of Hawks are not favourable.
This has got to be one of the most unusual but relevant topics on here. I think people with glasses were not allowed to fly. LASIK surgery can correct defects in the eye that used to demand glasses in the past - so that such people with corrected vision can now be considered free from glasses and eligible to fly.
