I much rather see a Super hornet, if reports of its strike performance are true, and the weapons load(and mix) that can be integrated, along with a 200/150 hi-lo mix it creates with the Tejas.

Too many twin engined heavy fighters in the medium and long term future.

I think if the criticism of InAF of being fighter jocks is true, they might like the Eurofighter with its focus on air to air combat.

Or may be due to their offsets and politics, the Eurofighter can offer a lot interms of ToT partnership and offsets,

I think they are putting the first few Tejas squadrons down south (Tamilnadu), very interesting choice for a relatively short ranged fighter aircraft…..

The Tejas MK1 is a very limited fighter and may be according to IAF its role is best served air policing the peaceful south.

Do you think the subsystems in both will be the same, or will there be differences ?

well, one has to wonder the sudden emergence of new members that post alot and who just registered this month (and the end of last month).. makes you wonder who they really are.

New members are a good thing. People like i.e seems to have a lot to offer 😉

In industries like these labor cost is very little of over all costs.
to have a bunch of in-experienced engineers running around like chicken with their heads chopped off and delaying the program is where it is at most expensive.

on project side imho India military-industrial complex has demonstrated a consistent inability to deliver what it promises at costs it promises and (most important) the schedule it promises.

I am talking about the production cost and you are talking about development.

The PAK FA development is done by the Russians mostly and India will be making it at home, here cheaper labour means you can make it for less money.

You are right about Indian R&D, but part of it is due to the lack of support shown by the Air Force/Army, who wants state of the art all the time and puts too much pressure on the native industry. The LCA is a prime example for IAF shifting goalposts way too much. And a hostile media which looks after corporate rather than national interests don’t help as well. These days I do wonder if a Chinese style of governance is preferable to the corrupt democracy we have here.

Chinese aviation industry is where it is now because of the support it gets from the government as well as the PLA, PLAAF etc. I cannot help but feel jealous at your achievements 😀

screw MiG-35 or the other MMRCA contestents. use the money to buy more Su-30MKIs. that is unless the IAF refuses to take more Tejas and use the MMRCA to find itself a real mig-21 replacement instead.

I have said it before and I will say it again India can only operate only a certain amount of large twin engined fighters, with the MKI and FGFA commitment they may not be able to go for more big fighters. There is also the AMCA to come.

A single engined MRCA and LCA MK2/MK1 should logically make up the rest of the IAF fleet.

But this being India politics will play its part and It will not be a big surprise if a redundant (because of MKI) fourth gen air superiority fighter like the Typhoon win the MRCA.

Well, time will tell about radar.

About money, thats not the case. Have you compared defense budgets? Russia’s is much higher, and it is set to be increased significantly in the GOZ 2010-2020. I don’t see India’s increasing at the same pace. Su-30MKI example is irrelevant here, why?
1.) India got it during a time when Russia was in economic ****hole. Military spending was totally inadequate. Not the case anymore, especially with priority project like PAK-Fa.
2.) India got it when it needed to critically re-new its outdated fleet. That was not the case for Russia! It completed a massive re-equipment a decade ago (MiG-29s, Su-27s, MiG-31s) and did not have a critical need for fleet wide replacement. Today, the PAK-FA is critically needed to ensure RuAF does not disappear.

Take those two together- when Su-30MKI was being delivered, and India got a Flanker variant better than anything Russia had, Russia neither had the means of purchasing the plane, nor did it have the need. Today, it has both.

oh and
3.) With Su-35 right around the corner, at the end of the day Russia did get a better Flanker variant. 😉

And Russia has more programs to cater to with that increased defense budget as well. It has to maintain its strategic and tactical bomber fleet, take care of having its nuclear balance with the U.S in check etc. All these don’t apply to India and I would say India has more money to spend on its Air Force than Russia.

I also think Indian labour is cheaper than Russian as well.

I will eat a radar dish if India doesn’t get source codes for the FGFA radar. India will possibly contribute to the backend of the radar in the Indian verison.

At the end of the day India has more money than Russia and can have more gizmos in their plane. The MKI is a great example for this, as will be the Indian version of the FGFA.

The IAF wants the first FGFA delivered to it to have the definitive higher thrust engines. Wants two seat cockpit which would be much better in a variety of roles. Will possibly have a lot of indigenous systems. India is likely to get the radar source codes, so we may see non-russian weapons on it as well.

By the way one question to all the PAK-FA buffs, do you think the aircraft will feature an integrated targeting pod like the F 35 will, or will one have to be carried externally, compromising stealth.