I am very healthy but my natural lifespan is not long enough to see an actual full development cycle of an actual indian weapon system and their deluded preening about being 3rd strongest AF in the world is just nuclear-level-copium by indians/BJP after the globally known stinging defeat by PAF (look closer on who wrote the article-it'll be outed as a jaihind)
Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Also, let's be fair - people have to chose what to bash Indians for. Either it's (lack of)persistence, or (lack of) capability.
If we bash India for still not having LCA capability, the obvious answer would've been buying, say, Gripen, which SAAB tried quite hard. Which is magnificent, and it's way more aircraft than Tejas will be anytime soon (kill both mk.1a and future mk.2 with better aircraft, right now); it's a very painful choice to maintain especially in retrospect - as, well, it'd have kept JF-17 suppresed, rather than balance breaker it is in actual life. But all of these niceties is an antithesis to developing independent industry. Indian one, Sweden of course would've been making happy noises, praising Indian democracy louder than Baltics criticize it.
Aka, from industrial perspective, it's Su-30mki all over again. LCA is best possible niche to let domestic industry just suffer it through. Especially since it already appears quite likely that neither medium nor heavy sets are to be covered domestically: impending Rafale decision doesn't spell anything good for AMCA or TEDBA. No matter what Indians themselves say.
If we bash India for still not having LCA capability, the obvious answer would've been buying, say, Gripen, which SAAB tried quite hard. Which is magnificent, and it's way more aircraft than Tejas will be anytime soon (kill both mk.1a and future mk.2 with better aircraft, right now); it's a very painful choice to maintain especially in retrospect - as, well, it'd have kept JF-17 suppresed, rather than balance breaker it is in actual life. But all of these niceties is an antithesis to developing independent industry. Indian one, Sweden of course would've been making happy noises, praising Indian democracy louder than Baltics criticize it.
Aka, from industrial perspective, it's Su-30mki all over again. LCA is best possible niche to let domestic industry just suffer it through. Especially since it already appears quite likely that neither medium nor heavy sets are to be covered domestically: impending Rafale decision doesn't spell anything good for AMCA or TEDBA. No matter what Indians themselves say.
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It would be enough if India could talk less and do more, but this is obviously impossible.
It's still a young nation (by age) with rapidly increasing literacy/internet penetration, and is probably well above western average in terms of how compromised politics are (i.e. how changing talking heads affect things, for better or worse). It's impossible indeed.
Better skip Indian commentary soup and look more at actual developments and substance.
Exactly.
There are more Chinese interdictions and intercepts of fucking Canadian and Australian aircraft than of Indians. (In fact, I cannot find a SINGLE picture of an Indian intercept by China or vice versa despite the Indian bullshit about the MKI being able to detect the J-20 a thousand miles in China about 7 or 8 years ago when there were none in Tibet.)
There is no competition or rivalry with India except on the propaganda front. Finding excuses and scraping the bottom of the logic barrel to find some "respect" in case we "underestimate" them just fuels their propaganda war as the "Third Best Air Force." And this isn't from some internet warrior but from their ruling party -- the BJP.
Happy Diwali, but this sentence is pure comedy 
„The might of INS Vikrant and the precision of the MiG-29 fighters stand as a symbol of India’s growing naval strength.“
Especially in mind of the latest news about its radar, it’s anyway limited capabilities, range, serviceability … and given the fact that its days are numbered in IN service.
„The might of INS Vikrant and the precision of the MiG-29 fighters stand as a symbol of India’s growing naval strength.“
Especially in mind of the latest news about its radar, it’s anyway limited capabilities, range, serviceability … and given the fact that its days are numbered in IN service.
To be fair, it's someone digged out something from a while ago, which was discussed back then already.
Whether it is relevant 6 years later - we don't know.
Also, it's days aren't numbered, Mig is to remain here for a while(decade or more). They're supplemented with rafakes, not retired. There's intended Indian upgrade path for them (including radar), and they're getting them (new jammer, rampage over last couple of years; should have astra).
Neither there's something horribly damning/limited about its capabilities, even with low readiness (like, even that was above F-35 average for many fleets).
If by numbered you mean replacement - yes, that's TEDBA. it's not exactly right around the corner.
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Unfortunately, I have to correct you, they are and even the IN is completely dissatisfied with the machine as a friendly Indian analyst described to me a few weeks ago at a trade fair in Vienna: the radar is a joke, its range is so limited and also due to simply terrible serviceability of the engines any operational capability is hardly available.
In addition, there are always problems with the arresting gear, so that currently all Indian carriers are only allowed to operate so close to the coast that in any emergency landing can take place on an onshore air base at any time. There is simply no Blue Navy... and to all this, there is still no solution for the use of the Rafale with the too small lifts or with the too small gates to the lower deck. Accordingly, it remains the same, the Rafales will have to stay on deck ... only no one is allowed to talk about it in India, because anything besides Jai Hind cheers are unwanted.
Still, indian mig radar upgrade (another Uttam spinoff) was presented last year (no photos were allowed). IN migs got new Belorussian jammers and rampage integration just last year, and work on adding Astra.
Can't say much abt Rafale, my feeling, given limited order, is that they're to be operated in small detachments using deck parking only. Which is highly suboptimal, but possible.
But this only reinforces mig status - there's just nothing to replace it with.
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Happy Diwali, but this sentence is pure comedy
„The might of INS Vikrant and the precision of the MiG-29 fighters stand as a symbol of India’s growing naval strength.“
Especially in mind of the latest news about its radar, it’s anyway limited capabilities, range, serviceability … and given the fact that its days are numbered in IN service.
Indeed. The comedy is sublime when announced with hilariously self-congratulatory words like "majestic" and "awe-inspiring" in front of exactly three MiGs in a pretty empty deck.
But I wonder if Indians could be self-aware enough to see that comedy and that this stunt actually puts more truth to the reports on the 29K's extremely reliability across multiple fronts.