Is the SH configured with the more powerful F-414 engines or standard vanilla version? 20% more thrust would do wonders for performance..

According to Vishnu Som it will be configured with Enhanced Performance engines. It will also be 9G capable 😎

Is there any chance of a split order ? Especially with respect to the view that the Mirage 2000 may be replaced by the MRCA as well.

Please help me understand this.

IAF says that MMRCA is to last for 30 to 40 years. That may be true considering the fact that IAF extracts even the last drop of life out of an aircraft considering the Mig 21 saga.

So how come F-16, F-18, Mig-35 are running high in this contest?

Russsians may continue to support the Mig just like the Mig 21 upgrades. Gripen NG, EF, Rafale may well be there for another 30 years in its developers stable

But what about the Teens. Is US going to fund further upgrades of F-16 and F-18, say 15 years down the time? We are talking about 40 years, with the last upgrade around 35 years from now.

India is upgrading its Jaguars and Mig 27s locally. It is very much possible that in 30-40 years time (long before it in fact) India will have the ability to upgrade the MRCA birds locally. It is very probably that the production lines of all the aircraft in the MRCA competition will have ended in that time frame. Yes some of the newer designs will be in service with their home countries, but that may amount for nothing in terms of upgrade costs as we are seeing with the Mirage 2000 upgrade deal.

I’m talking about WVR missiles. Those are very accurate these days. With the F-35’s DAS and AIM-9X combo (360 degree off-bore capability), maneuverability really is irrelevant.

Absolutely but you will be surprised to know how many of this forum will disagree with you on this.