Hi Jonathan,

It could also do with what BAe is asking for to do the required upgrades/downgrades.

The IN is on the verge of getting MiG29Ks for use in a few years. They dont see the SHARS operating beyond a certain point. maybe they felt it was too expensive to do the mods and put them on a combat role?

OTOH it could also be a backdoor way of getting aircraft into the force.. bring em as ‘training’ aircraft and then deploy them for combat roles. didnt Indonesia do that with the hawks – and that created a furore in the UK parliament?