That's the thing, I don't think the Mirage acquisition will be very expensive.NRao wrote:Well, I do not think you can deal with the two (increase squads and MIC dev) at the same time. I see the M2K as a shot in the arm for the prior at the expense of the later. I would reverse that order. The squad numbers can take a hit in the short term. But a MIC dev is a long term affair that needs funds at the moment (and perhaps political support?).
The Qataris were offering us almost brand new aircraft for $62.5 mil a pop which we could potentially have gotten down to $50 mil.
Brazil in 2005 signed a $100 mil contract for 12 Mirage 2000B/Cs with France. That's $8.5 mil/unit all-inclusive. Admittedly these were older Mirages at par with our non-upgraded -Hs which the FAB retired 8 years later but still...
Given the depreciation, I wouldn't be surprised if we could get a full Dash 5 squadron for $500 mil. Leaving plenty in the kitty for a Tejas ramp up. Maybe reinforced by the F-35 - certainly the first choice in a naval role.
I don't think anyone really knows what 6th gen is at this point. Maybe not even consist of an actual fighter (maybe a system-of-system type approach will be followed).And, if moving to the F-35, it will probably kill everything. In that case India should move to a 6th Gen. ???? Keep the LCA line alive (need that for all times), AMCA as we know it, is of no use. Start with a 6th Gen naval version and move on. Including a 6th Gen single engine. Clean sheet.
What might be doable is giving a UCAV project primacy. None of the aviation majors has a full scale dev. program funded yet so they have less of a head-start in that respect. Downside is that our existing body-of-work in the UAV sphere has been pretty dreadful - though ADA is probably a more reliable bet than ADE.