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The new Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, an IITian and the ex-CM of Goa, with a reputation for honesty, has stated that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) should meet at least once a month and if need be, more often, to speed up acquisition. The entire process itself needs to be more transparent as per him.

Expect acquisitions to move quicker now.

Now that does not compute..

If we are going Down that line of thought, India would have left Russian’s arms market years ago due to the fact Russia have been selling copious amount of toys to China years after years.

Nah, i think India couldn’t care any less about Russia selling a few toys like Mi-8 etc etc to Pakistan.

Now pls stop this political rant about every world politics Connected through some sales between countries.

Did you even read what I wrote? I said that this sale will push India a little bit further into the western orbit. Believe it or not, there is a contingent in India that holds that Russia is a strategic friend that doesn’t sell offensive weapons to Pakistan, which differentiates it from the rest. Now, that argument just won’t hold much ground.

But as I stated earlier, which you obviously didn’t read, it’s purely upto to Russia and given that it is business, They have every right to sell to Pakistan. Just that they shouldn’t expect much in the way of real money coming their way from Pakistan.

Riightt . . . so Brazil is developing bespoke kit, & loading the development & integration costs onto the programme. Thanks.

Not semantics, just plain English.

The South Africans (as in the government) lack the will to spend money.
The SAAF lacks money, as a result of the above.

So it is perfectly correct to say either – in the right context. Two different entities. Simple.

So where did I say that South African nation is broke for you to come around lecturing me on how the govt. doesn’t want to spend money it has??? They aren’t able to keep all their Gripens flying, because their budget isn’t big enough. As simple as that.

I said “they cannot afford to keep their Gripens flying” so where did the South African Govt. come in? It obviously refers to their existing budget which is inadequate to even keep existing assets flying.

So much drama..
For me its pretty straight forward.
The Russian industrial military Complex is like any other, they are addicted to $$$$.
So when the Indian market are drying in, Russia will allways look for new markets to sell their toys.
We see it in Iraq and Egypt, etc etc.

the only thing is that they’re getting closer to a market that doesn’t really have too much money to spend, and one that is used to getting equipment either through freebies in the form of military aid or through generous credit lines.

In turn, they’re pushing India just a little further into the Western orbit. Just look at the sheer value of defence business they’ve gotten from India and compare it to what they may get from Pakistan.

Anyway, its all about business. India has been sourcing more and more from the West for a variety of reasons and Russia isn’t happy about that. If they find a market they have every right to sell to it, just like other nations do.

On the basis that Brazil signed the contract? I am sorry, do you have some data that the Brazilian government does not have?

Brazilians with more expertise and more experience and access to far more data than you and me pored through the deal. They decided to sign it. I assume that they know what they are doing. You on the other hand, obviously don’t, since you believe that they somehow missed the fact that $5.4 billion divided by 36 equals $150 million.

You probably somehow conflated affordable with cheap. Don’t. And keep in mind that both terms are relative and subjective.

Don’t be silly. Obviously the Brazilian govt and FAB knew have access to data that we don’t, and that has been factored in when making the decision to sign the deal. But that doesn’t change anything. The contract cost is high, however much spin you may try to put on it.

This is not a 5th gen fighter we’re talking about. It is a derivative of an existing 4th gen fighter. And it is a decidedly light to medium weight single engined fighter, not a medium to heavy weight twin engine like the Rafale or Super Hornet which cost more to manufacture and correspondingly bring more heft, capabilities and range vs payload.

So, while just dividing the total program cost by the units purchased to arrive at a flyaway cost figure that one can assign to a Gripen E may not be correct, the plain fact is that the total program cost is high.

I’m not confusing affordable and cheap. I know what they mean. But when 36 units of a type with some ToT cost you $5.4 billion (almost certainly without weapons included) then one must understand that very few nations in the world can even afford a couple of squadrons of such aircraft. That is relatively unaffordable for many nations that would have been possible Gripen E customers. And that was the USP of the Gripen- a western fighter, cheaper to buy and operate than even late model F-16s. That is clearly no longer the case.

And calling something relatively affordable must take into account the capabilities it brings as well. Those fighters that are relatively unaffordable when compared to the Gripen E (Rafale,Typhoon and even the Super Hornet), bring in relatively greater capabilities, as was clear by the Swiss evaluation results, which factored in the Gripen NG eventually.

Another article on FG that claims the deal is worth $5.8 billion, not $5.4 billion

Perhaps another typo?

Brazilian pilots begin flight training on Gripen

Akash SAM tested against 2 flying targets

Demonstrating multiple-target handling capability, two Akash surface-to-air supersonic missiles were simultaneously launched against two flying targets by Indian Air Force personnel from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Odisha on Thursday.

Flying at supersonic speed of 2.5 Mach, one of the missiles engaged and destroyed a fast-moving Banshee, a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at a slant range of 11 km and an altitude of 2.5 km.

Carrying a 55 kg pre-fragmented warhead, the missile achieved a direct hit against the target which was in an approaching mode, according to G. Chandramouli, Project Director, Akash weapon system.

As the second missile approached the other target (para flares dropped from a MIG 27) at a slant range of 24 km and an altitude of 5.5. km, the warhead detonated within the proximity of the target which was receding. He said multiple target handling and automated air defence functions were the important features of the indigenously developed Akash missile system.