diverse in some ways, similar in others. but MTV yobs do not know the first thing about culture so they are in no position to judge.

I am not an MTV yob, I have a PhD in History and Masters in History & Archaeology. Culturally India is far more diverse than any other Union of people currently in existence, Soviet Union is no more.

it’s the people identifying themselves as a nation that makes it one. in India that identity has been there for near 2000 years. try and wrap your head around that idea.

:rolleyes: For nearly 2000 years what ? lets see India 2000 years back that would be AD 11, the region we call India now is far more culturally distinct, Parthians and Indo Sythians rule the North West, Kushanas in North and Kunindas in North east, while the South is Part of Ancient Tamizhakam. Where is the cultural homogenity. the we feeling ‘people identifying themselves as Indians’ its a later day invention 😉

EU is trying to achieve where India already is as a nation.

The People of EU have more in common with each other than the people from different parts of India have amongst themselves, the people of EU had a choice on the Union, people of India did not, in the end it worked out well.

no thanks. I know quite well the extent of your knowledge and opinion.

You are rather entrenched in and indoctrinated to certain belief systems that is all.

Firstly stop looking at India through US glasses. How do you know what is a healthy mix. Give me a formula. What makes you think if US has more F-16 than F-15 and that system will also work for India. Currently even India has only 120 heavy fighters only about 20% of inventory.

If i was not clear I am talking about the future Indian Air Force not the current one. It does appear rather top heavy which can affect in badly.

Yes there could be a meteor shower over India tomorrow and we will all be …..
Future planning is done based on what you think will be the future trends and is based on what data you have on your hands. India is expected to do good in near future and the planning will be done based on that.

Please talk sense, what I said can happen rather quickly, if you look at recent history you can see that markets can be volatile and no nation is safe, comparing it to a meteor shower is rather optimistic. The fact is that China being an autocracy won’t have to justify continuous spending on military even if its economy collapses, for India, like in other democracies military cuts could be drastic. Relying on Economic predictions is rather naive.

Agree and things are moving in that direction slowly but then MMRCA is not moving fast either.

I am saying our limited funds could be put to better use in many levels than buying MMRCA worth over 100 million per plane. India faces the very real prospect of a two front war, Teer argues that the Typhoon may give IAF and edge over PLAAF/PAF, but would that affect the course of the war, especially considering Chinese doctrine of attacking airbases with Ballistic and cruise missiles ? A fighter has to be airborne to fight proper. Won’t the money be better spent on similar weapons of our own, like China aims to meet the USA asymmetrically we should be looking to deal with the Chinese threat the same way. Something like the Gripen which can operate from highways is exactly the sort of weapon which you can use to counter the strategy of firing missile volleys at airbases.

You and your love for Gripen. Bad luck doesnt look like IAF is going to operate it.

Its because its an ideal fighter to make up the numbers, for a while I believed the LCA could be making up the numbers, now recent reports suggests that looks unlikely and the IAF is going to be full of Twin engined fighters in the coming decades. Which is not ideal.

Borders are just one aspect. There is much more to a country/nation. eg. freedom of way of life, of religion, of way of thinking, of way of doing things, able to work for your betterment in all spheres of life etc. etc. etc. which are not possible in slavery. If you have no problem with that, we don’t need armed forces any way.

I agree with all of that, I am not wanting separation or anything now, was just pointing out that India as you saw it never saw hundreds of years of slavery, slavery is a rather harsh term to describe colonialism if you know the history of real slavery and that for India as you see now is the creation of the British.

There was a thing about an Israeli solution in this months dti.

All this business of fuel costs is kiteflying.

Disagree with you totally as will most of the worlds military planners. Life Cycle and operating costs are as important as capability, just look at the USAF wanted more raptors did not get them, there has to be checks and balances. India cannot match China stride for stride weapon for weapon or we will bankrupt ourselves.

Like I said no civilian government can have their Armed forces buy all that they fancy it has to be done with consultation and in a balanced way. Here for example IA is struggling to get its Artillery in order while IAF is getting all these Uber Toys.

the US single engined fighter, the JSF matches weight and fuel consumption of most twin engined fighters. by itself, the difference between a twin engined and single engined fighter wrt economics is a pedantic one, unless you consider particular models. the question that should be asked is can the fighter in question match the requirements. clearly, the IAF felt the gripen did not. the rest of the argument is moot.

sopwith camels would be even cheaper to operate than gripens, I doubt any air force is going to opt for it. the question of economics comes only after the minimum requirements are fulfilled, not before.

F 35 is not in service yet, why not talk about the F 16.

:rolleyes:

Its only a moot point if you are willing to let your armed forces have their way in terms of procurement. The favourable economics may help the IAFs cause for the moment, but this decision may bite back in future if a future government tries to reduce defense spending.

I would argue that going for the Gripen and more force multipliers like AWACS and Tankers, speeding up the implementation of network centric capabilities etc. would make IAF far more capable than having Typhoon or Rafale.

😉 I fully expect a cry of corruption, a CAG report & Anna wallah’s demanding MRCA to be scrapped and government finally succumbing to the demands.

Does microsoft flight sim offer a view from the cockpit as well ?

No its a view expressed by pilots who have flown both American and Russian types.

And there are far better flight sims for combat aircraft than Microsoft Flight Sim.