Few months ago i had chat with pilot of AN-32 based in agra, Well was surprised that Gripen has very high reputation among IAF pilots, when i asked him why two aircrafts with similar capability and features ? he pointed me to Jaguar and Mig-27 (Avionics,range,weapon load) it seems that iaf are ready to work with Tejas and Gripen ,it was just a personnel opinion from an iaf pilots that all

Just a question besides the ongoing discussion about pros & cons of each competitor.

Is there a given date, when the IAF will decide ????

Deino

by july selected jets will be in India for evaluation purpose and deal may be signed by mid 2010 with first delivery in 2012/13

SunnyFromOz Flying done by Trainers or Test pilot does not make too much of difference in Combat ,even IAF Test pilots have flown Mirage-III/F-16 and Even chinese F-7

What is the status of the Kaveri by the way? With plans about maybe equipping the LCA with GE414 or Eurojet, does that mean the Kaveri is dead? Or is the Kaveri going to equipp a Mk.3 which is entering service in, let´s say 2030? :rolleyes: Either way I am sure that it will take years for HAL to even decide which engine to equipp the Mk.2. Why is it called Mk.2 by the way? Was there a Mk.1? :confused:

Kaveri with its kabini core will take of dec 2009 but new kaveri with M-88 core will power MK2 may be by 2015 ,there is some unconfirmed reports of posible development of MK3 also know as Tejas A (Agile) with reduced RCS and may be even TVC

If Lca had not progressed at all and was just Hangar Queen i could have supported ending the program ,but after 960 successful test flights and after 8 years from the first TD-1 all the Birds are flying and not crashed or involved in any accident yet when most of the Fighter aircrafts entering Service had major or minor incidents in its testing phase same aircrafts Developed by countries who are trying hard selling their aircrafts for MMRCA,i will give a pat on the ADA and HAL Engineers and say job well done so far and Hope they can keep there promise to make Tejas a Success Story for Indian Aviation Industry

Good news is that PV-3 and LSP-2 have reached Nagpur and will be reaching Leh for cold Weather test

Tbf what is the point of these 40 planes then. What I am saying is that, if they are capable enough for 40 to be fielded why not order a 100. And if they plan to upgrade this 40 to MK2 standard why not order 100 and upgrade them to MK2 and buy another 100 MK2 outright.

In terms of Avionics MK-I may be upgraded to MK-II in future but not with engines and other changes ,First 20 Aircraft or so will be used as Induction Tejas to be used by IAF Pilots to learn and to fly Tejas (Familiarization ),and other 20 with LSP (8) will used for Air defence roles

Will the MKI1 and MK2s as different as the Hornet and the Super Hornet ?

The Hornet uses the 404 like the MK1 and Mk2 may use 414 like the SH. But i think the SH was so different because they wanted a larger plane with some stealth features, while that won’t be necessary for the Tejas.

If they cannot be upgraded to later versions then there is no point in buying any number of MK1s is there ?

Not that number of structural change but minor under wings and near engine ,there are talks of adding conformal tanks to it it may look little different,but few unconfirmed report i repeat unconfirmed reports that Air intakes will also see some changes .

Thats the point why Iaf wants to keep minimal orders for MK-I around (40) while MK-II (100) but some members think its the other wise and even started to mourn the death of Tejas :D:D