The first pic I’ve seen of Su-30MKI pilots based at Tezpur AFS in Assam, North East India. No.2 Winged Arrows is based there. Looking at the helmet of one of the pilots (near the center), most likely he’s a Jaguar pilot

The IAF’s Eastern Air Command commenced Exercise codenamed “Pralay’ on 29th February 2012 in the Brahmaputra and rest of the Eastern region of India. The exercise involves joint Army Air operations by the IAF’s Eastern Air Command and Eastern Command of the Indian Army.

This is an annual exercise aimed at testing the combat potential of the Air Force in various roles such as Air Defence, Ground Support operations, Counter Air Operations, Electronic Warfare, Joint Operations with the Army including special operations by day and night. SU-30, Mirage-2000, MiG-29, Jaguar, Bison, Mi-17, AN-32, C-130J, AWACS, Flight Refuelling aircraft as well as remotely piloted aircraft from the Army are taking part in the exercise.

It also includes conduct of Special Forces operations and night operations in conjunction with ground forces during the exercise. The entire spectrum of Air Operations by aircraft under dense air defence environment is being practiced both by day and night. The exercise also includes facets of network centric operations, electronic warfare as well as information warfare.

Apart from war fighting in the skies various ground contingencies related to Air Force Operations are being tested. Lessons learnt from this exercise would be incorporated in future operational strategies. Eastern Army Command is actively taking part to train the forces in joint operations.

Readying for defence of the Eastern sector

We don’t know the development status of the NG; what we know about the Tejas so far is that it keeps becoming more delayed, and that it has failed on several parameters.

Naval Tejas may fly sooner than a naval NG but it may not meet the requirements…

In the meantime NG development keeps moving forward.

On verra.

And now that the Cabinet Committee on Security has decided to order 9 N-LCA versions for the Navy, the N-LCA’s chances of entering IN service have only gotten brighter. With the GoI now asking the Indian armed forces to prioritize their purchases, the next fighter for the IN will be far lower on their priority list what with them having committed money to the N-LCA’s development.

Besides, the Sea Gripen most likely won’t even take off the drawing board,so whether or not it meets or doesn’t meet the IN’s requirements is nothing more than random speculation. Let them first find a customer who can bankroll the program and then we’ll find out how good the Sea Gripen will be..:rolleyes: With the Rafale being selected, the chances of that first customer being the IN are extremely remote.

The Indian one doesn’t really count as it’s essentially the PAKFA…

The AMCA is not the PAKFA derivative.

F-22 doesn’t have DSI. (referring to the article on J-21)

Put DSI on the F-22 and you will find it hard to tell it apart from this J-21 model..:p

Hui Tong updated their site.. that SAC model from a few months back now has a dedicated entry

http://cnair.top81.cn/J-10_J-11_FC-1.htm

description

A scale-down model of J-21 was unveiled by the 601 Institute at the first International UAV Innovation Grand Prix held in Beijing in September 2011. It was first rumored in April 2011 that 601/SAC are developing a 4th generation medium multi-role stealth fighter as J-21. The aircraft has a conventional design featuring twin engines and DSIs similar to both American F-22 and F-35. The prototype could initially be powered by the 8.5t class WS-13 turbofan but later by the new 9.5t class “medium thrust” engine. A full-scale metal model may have been built in early 2011. The first prototype has been under construction since late 2011. First flight was projected to be in September 2012. J-21 is expected to be promoted at the international market as well as a low-cost alternative to American F-35.

or in other words, it could be interpreted as Pakistan likely being unable to buy J-20, but has the option of the J-21 instead.

wow..that looks like a scaled down F-22 copy !

Different argument from “It’s limited to 5g at 10600 kg”. Come on, be consistent. Do you withdraw that claim? Do you accept that with a differently distributed load, it’s probably much less limited at 10600 kg?

No I don’t. I didn’t make that claim- Chris Yeo stated clearly that the aircraft is limited to 5Gs at that weight. What you’re doing is purely speculating that the 5G limit is only due to the structural limits of the centerline pylon..

You care about voiding the manufacturer’s warranty when you’re fighting a war? :confused: Next, you’ll be saying that air forces will avoid sending fighters mustn’t go where they might be shot at, lest they void their warranties.

So what you’re saying is that whatever the manufacturer’s structural limits are, are just for peacetime ops is it? In war, you can ignore these structural limits and just load the aircraft to its full, beyond its MTOW and then hope for the best. If you overstress your airframe or lose the pilot thanks to it being loaded over its limits, then well no big deal right? :rolleyes:

Now, go ahead and show us proof that exceeding the MTOW by refueling in mid-air is something thats been done. Or that Air Forces like the USAF which have seen plenty of combat have deliberately ignored the manufacturer’s weight limits just because they were operating in a war scenario.

Are you sure that’s due to the overall weight? I’d say it’s far more likely that the limit is just on the pylon carrying the 1100 litre tank. I would expect that the same load, distributed across a few pylons none of which approached its weight limits, would allow rather higher Gs.

But if you were to go to the max payload and max fuel, you’d be surely carrying the centerline fuel tank at full and have all the internal fuel. At that point, the DFCS would restrict the airplane to 5Gs anyway. Besides, going beyond the manufacturer specified Max Gross weight is something not done at all unless you want to cause possible catastrophic loss to the aircraft and void the manufacturer’s warranty.