Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

siegecrossbow said:

From a purely technical standpoint I don't think that the situation is comparable. As of 2019 India is still using the Mig-21 Bison as a frontline aircraft whereas the J-7s and J-8s have been relegated to second line and/or surveillance duty for quite some time. The only recent use of the J-7 for frontline duty was a pair of J-7s spotted in the Taiwanese ADIZ, but that was only one instance out of several thousand incursions involving J-16/J-10/J-11/Su-30 and we are not even sure if they are drones.

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In any case, 3rd generation fighters with low mileage are nice for pilots to pile up flying hours and basic training without using their frontline aircraft. India have not a lot of backup for doing that.

Here in Canada fighter pilots are leaving because they are not flying more or less. Not enough fighter grade jets to train on and our old cf-18 are falling apparts literally. It's hard to compete with neighbors that have better economy and infrastructures. India need to beef up, they have a nice try with the Tejas but damn... it is taking team so long that it will be irrelevant soon.

Atomicfrog said:

In any case, 3rd generation fighters with low mileage are nice for pilots to pile up flying hours and basic training without using their frontline aircraft. India have not a lot of backup for doing that.

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Isn't that what trainer's are for though?

How is the stock/amount of Chinese trainer aircraft and do we have any idea their comparisons to say 3rd gen Chinese fighters (price per hour, how good is the training experience, usability in actual combat if needed)?

Lastly it should be possible to convert 3rd gens to drones, but question is, if it is worthy enough to pay that price.

India does jet trainers too, but they are a bit... well see for yourself:

Michaelsinodef said:

Isn't that what trainer's are for though?

How is the stock/amount of Chinese trainer aircraft and do we have any idea their comparisons to say 3rd gen Chinese fighters (price per hour, how good is the training experience, usability in actual combat if needed)?

Lastly it should be possible to convert 3rd gens to drones, but question is, if it is worthy enough to pay that price.

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J-7 are still high performance planes, they are not a subsonic trainer without radar, weapons and low thrust to weight ratio. Way better aircraft for full grown pilots to book hours.

Price per hours if we compare maintenance is probably below 10hours per hours of flight for a j-7. It's way lower than a top of the line fighter that can be easily over 20 hours. It's why India continue to fly their mig-21... they are low cost and already paid. But they need replacement. Same thing for China and J-7, but China have a lot of plane in queue to fill the place left and enough to relegate them to second or third line. Their remaining J-7 and J-8 are not old aircraft at all.

Atomicfrog said:

In any case, 3rd generation fighters with low mileage are nice for pilots to pile up flying hours and basic training without using their frontline aircraft. India have not a lot of backup for doing that.

Here in Canada fighter pilots are leaving because they are not flying more or less. Not enough fighter grade jets to train on and our old cf-18 are falling apparts literally. It's hard to compete with neighbors that have better economy and infrastructures. India need to beef up, they have a nice try with the Tejas but damn... it is taking team so long that it will be irrelevant soon.

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Canadian military overall is a joke and is incapable of fighting hight intensity warfare against a determined proficiently trained military opponents. If we're talking about their infantry regiments tactical prowess then for sure they are more or less highly competent but every western military will look competent against a backward, technologically inept enemies of Taliban and the terrorist elements it faced in Afghanistan. But if the Taliban were equipped provided logistics and ISR by a supporting power like the U.S. did against the Soviets back in the Soviet-Afghan war would the tactical battles and engagements between NATO forces of which Canada was a part of have been lopsided? I don't think so.

Atomicfrog said:

In any case, 3rd generation fighters with low mileage are nice for pilots to pile up flying hours and basic training without using their frontline aircraft. India have not a lot of backup for doing that.

Here in Canada fighter pilots are leaving because they are not flying more or less. Not enough fighter grade jets to train on and our old cf-18 are falling apparts literally. It's hard to compete with neighbors that have better economy and infrastructures. India need to beef up, they have a nice try with the Tejas but damn... it is taking team so long that it will be irrelevant soon.

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2nd and 3rd generation fighter aircraft are horrible training tools. They teach pilots bad habits that are very hard to shake off once they graduate to fourth/fifth generation aircraft.

Temstar said:

India does jet trainers too, but they are a bit... well see for yourself:
View attachment 79887

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I swear I've been looking at pictures of this plane for over 15 years that I was pretty sure it was a late 80's/early 90's plane, contemporary with the MiG-AT and similar designs.

And turns out it has barely made it out of the prototype stage a few years ago, wtf

siegecrossbow said:

2nd and 3rd generation fighter aircraft are horrible training tools. They teach pilots bad habits that are very hard to shake off once they graduate to fourth/fifth generation aircraft.

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I'm not talking about training graduates... they have their own planes to do that. I'm talking about hours for graduated pilots. If you book all these hours on new frontline planes, they will age fast and are quite costly. If you use your stockpiled old generation aircrafts to keep your pilot sharp without busting your top planes, it's quite good economicaly.

If you have enough frontline planes, money and replacements to book over 200hres per pilots a year, to maintain their competance, go for it. But i'm not sure even China can do that presently.

Atomicfrog said:

I'm not talking about training graduates... they have their own planes to do that. I'm talking about hours for graduated pilots. If you book all these hours on new frontline planes, they will age fast and are quite costly. If you use your stockpiled old generation aircrafts to keep your pilot sharp without busting your top planes, it's quite good economicaly.

If you have enough frontline planes, money and replacements to book over 200hres per pilots a year, to maintain their competance, go for it. But i'm not sure even China can do that presently.

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It’s the equivalent of prepping for a calculus exam by doing loads of middle school geometry questions. Practicing for the wrong thing can be worse than not practicing at all.

Temstar said:

India does jet trainers too, but they are a bit... well see for yourself:
View attachment 79887

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What kind of engine is that? It looks oddly familiar.