When it comes to ToT and developing stuff from scratch India looks toward the west. Tejas/Arjun etc are examples.

Not foreign design. The S-tank & Ikv 91 were Swedish-designed, & used Swedish (Bofors) guns. The latter also had a Swedish (Volvo) engine.

I was talking about Arjun :(. But your reply is most relevant to what Boom was talking about.

Heh. India has a lot more going on than what a single company like SAAB can provide. India has no dearth of programs & even the industrial capability to achieve it, what it really needs is an overarching commitment to aerospace from national leadership & complete & equitable participation from all firms involved, whether public or private, with long term plans laid out upfront, serious commitment from the end user to justify the investment, and clear lines of leadership & accountability. The rest is just eyewash. With the huge offsets bonanza coming in, there are many firms capable and eager enough to participate in aerospace, the challenge & the need of the hour is to have an aerospace vision beyond just individual programs, organizations and trade bodies.

What SAAB has and ADA/HAL doesn’t is the expertise at designing successful fighters throughout the past many decades. Now Indian defense Industrial complex may have more to offer than what Sweden does but that is besides the point (only may). If you look at the LCA for example it has as many foreign derived components as the Gripen has if not more. Even for the excellent FCS/FBW India was collaborating with the Americans before the nuclear tests.

Now lets look at the AWACS SAAB has been making the Erieye for many years now and they have the SAAB 2000 platform to carry it (ofcourse it can be carried on Embarer as well). India on the other hand is just developing its on AWACS and needs Embarer airframes because of a lack of home grown alternative.

Now lets look at India’s armour, nearly all critical systems in the Arjun is imported and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the MKI Leopard. The Swedes were designing their own tanks before opting for the German Leopard MKII.

The only places where India has a lead over Sweden at the moment I believe is Space & Ballistic missile technology. Now this is not going to be the same always as Indian capabilities evolve, but it sure can use the help of some one like SAAB or any foreign entity with the relevant expertise to boost its current programmes.

http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2011/02/aero-india-2011.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Tarmak007–AnIndianAerospaceDefenceBlogWithADifferenceByAnanthaKrishnanM+%28Tarmak007+–+An+Indian+Aerospace+%26+Defence+Blog+With+A+Difference+By+Anantha+Krishnan+M.%29

Aviation Week Video 🙂

The Roundel is not the same Its Red for Italian AF and Saffron for IAF. The Green is also different.