Very cute little plane! Nice job. 🙂
But… what is its intended role, now that IN is getting MiG-29K? Will be a bit crowded on and bellow the flight deck with both aircraft (plus helos), or?

1 sqdn 29K and 1 sqdn NLCA per carrier (~48 a/c) on the 40,000 ton conventionally powered STOBAR Vikrant class carrier currently under construction.

The next carrier under construction will have greater displacement (> 50,000 tons) and have more aircraft on it.

I think the entire procurement process has to change before the private sector will take a bigger role. In India the Govt will often expect you to work on a product without any guarantee of a firm order. No company in the private sector will be willing to invest in R&D facilities without some sort of firm commitment. Granted there are inefficiencies in the public sector but given the large profits expected by companies in the private sector I wonder if their products will be any cheaper. There are no magic bullets in the defense field so I wonder if they would be any faster either. The big advantage that I see in the private sector is their ability to attract better talent due to better pay scales.

Here is strictly looking at it from a political point of view. I think ManMohan owes the US for pushing the Nuclear deal through. Along with that is the unstated desire by both the US and India for a strategic alignment against China. Buying the F-18 would go a long way towards interoperability and that goal. That would have to be balanced against the fickle nature American commitments where they can embargo you or deny parts and renege on their contractual obligations if you don’t sing their tune. With the old cold war over and a new one taking shape over the next decade with India and the US on the same side the chances of India rubbing the US the wrong way may not be that great. Now whether these political considerations will trump the technical considerations remains to be seen. I think part of this exercise was also to absorb some advanced technologies that India is behind in like aircraft engines and AESA radars. Whether the US will part with enough of these technologies compared to the Europeans will also determine if they win this competition.

The wings are getting redesigned no way will the LCA MK2 be ready for induction by 2013. Maybe by 2018.

Do you have a source that says the wings will be redesigned. First time I am hearing of this.

India has selected France for the LCA’s new/future engine development.
If Pakistani jets ever fight with French missiles/avionics/radar against
an Indian LCA we powered….!
Kuwait plus UAE on top of Pakistan, we may have an upcoming connection with the “Arab world” that…..?

French planes/missiles/avionics/radar are frightfully expensive. Maybe the Arab countries with Petro dollars can afford it but I doubt Pakistan can. As for Kuwait I find it difficult to believe that they will be able to withstand American pressure to buy F-18s after all the US has done for them

This might explain that Pakistan and China have treaty that kind of protects each other

I guess Pakistan has learned nothing from the Bangladesh debacle. You can’t depend on other countries to pull your chestnuts out of the fire.

According to this link he posted something in Feb 2008. How is that possible?

http://s188567700.online.de/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=165&Itemid=47