Edit:

India to ink $11 billion MMRCA deal with Rafale by next month: Indian Air Force official

BANGALORE: India plans to sign the $11 billion MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) deal with French Rafale by the end of this month-end or next month, a senior Indian Air Force official said today.

“I find no reason why it shouldn’t be signed by the end of this month or next month”, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, IAF, Air Marshal Rajinder Singh said.

Thales, India’s BEL To Form Joint Venture for Radars

August 24, 2012, 10:10 AM
India’s government-owned electronics giant, Bharat Electronics (BEL), will sign a joint venture with France’s Thales next week to manufacture air defense components, AIN has learned from a senior defense official. The venture is expected to start operations within 18 months.

BEL may then become part of the global supply chain for Thales. Under earlier license deals with the French company, BEL has built Thales LW04, DA08 and ZW06 naval radars. BEL will hold a 74-percent share in the joint venture and Thales the balance, because the Indian government does not allow direct foreign investment of more than 26 percent.

What I was asking about the Flanker is if those are really 250kg bombs. And what a typical combat load might look like.

I think this might be close to the combat load of a flanker for there are several pictures of it flying in more or less this exact loading.

Two Indian Air Force MI-17 helicopters collide mid-air, 8 dead

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gujarat-two-air-force-helicopters-collide-midair/286831-3-238.html

Ahmedabad: Eight Indian Air Force personnel were killed after two Air Force MI-17 helicopters crashed near Sarmat village in Jamnagar in Gujarat after a mid-air collision on Thursday. There were four people on board each MI-17 helicopter and all of them died in the tragic crash.
One of the helicopters caught fire after the collision, which took place almost 20 kms from the Jamnagar Air Force Station. The helicopters had taken off from the Jamnagar Air Force Base on a routine training sortie.

Well, where is the solution???
(And don’t give me that magical “zero radar return compressor face” business that some here have pinned their hopes on as it’s utter nonsense.)

See, this is exactly what I was talking about :). Please tell me why it is “utter nonsense” or Saturn/Sukhoi codswallop. Even I am sceptical about it but the confidence with which you state its utter nonsense implies that you have a reasonably high understanding of the subject and have studied similar configurations in detail. I am all ears for your explanation.

The Russians never intended India to have any technical involvemnt because it was a scam right from the start to entice the Indians to go for it. Like I say though many of them are having second thoughts as they’ve realised this so don’t be at all suprised if they back out soon. Gotta say though they’re real suckers for being scammed when you consider the Admiral Gorshkov business, the Russians must be laughing!

Apparently “professional airforces know what they are doing far more than fanboys” logic applies only to airforces that are going to buy F-35 😉

PS: Direct me to an article that says India is having second thoughts on Pak-Fa except those written by Ajai Shukla (even that doesn’t imply what you have been claiming, but I will give you the benefit of doubt).

Are there any flights with F-111’s and Fencers or Backfired? Or perhaps ADV Tornados with Flogger bomber-destroyers? B-52’s and Bears? Lancers and Blackjack? There are lots of intercept pictures out there, but not many cooperation pictures.

Intercept picture, US Navy Tomcat and Indian Navy bear.

http://vijainder.sawfnews.com/News/69562.aspx

August 16, 2012, (Sawfnews.com) – Embraer Defense and Security on August 16, 2012 delivered the first EMB 145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to India, in a ceremony held at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
The aircraft has completed initial ground and flight tests towards flight certification using a Dorsal Unit (DoU) fitted with dummy electronics supplied to Embraer by CABS, along with other electronics and equipment such as ECS, IFR, auxiliary power units, internal fuel tanks, SATCOMs and antennae.
Remaining certification tests will be done in India at IAF’s Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) with participation by Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil and India’s CEMILAC after CABS fits the actual AESA radar and other electronics that it has developed for aircraft.