When you are talking about 100+ fighters, and then some (India seems to love follow on orders) over decades of operational life, Operating costs play a very very important role…and then pull in the avionics and propulsion and you have a product that is overall easier and cheaper to maintain,operate..etc ..

Lets just compare MiG-29 and Mirage 2000k already in Indian service.

Mirage has better spare parts support but spares are very expansive. The MiG was initially a less pleasant experience for the IAF, but the issues have been solved by now. Either by better support contracts or tech transfer for local spare parts production. As result, spare parts are considerably cheaper and to a larger extend locally sourced.

Mirage needs less mainenance hours per flight hour, but labour is cheap in India.

Upgrades:
-MiG: major upgrade including airframe restoration, new engines, electronics and weapons for 10 mill per airframe.
-Mirage: airframe restoration and electronics upgrade at 40 mill per airframe.

I think it is save to assume Rafale is more expansive to run than a Mirage.

MiG is cheaper, Rafale more capable and adds one further type to the Indian aircraft zoo.

Given the alternatives, I would just stick to MiG 29 and invest the saved cash into LCA/MCA.

why no MiG35??

Because as most countries which operated MiG-29, they have no interst in buying another MiG product.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/malaysia-to-phase-out-troublesome-mig-29-fighters-327276/

And news as these:
http://www.indodaily.com/reports/The_Algeria_MiG_Row_And_Russian_Quality_Assurance_999.html
fit in the picture, too.
Same impression we gained here in Germany. Poor build quality, even poorer spare parts support. We had an -UB sitting two years in Manching waiting for the necessary spare parts from our Russian “service partner”.

Flankers would be really nice. If a deal is signed fingers crossed you guys get Su-30/35 instead of crappy MiG-29.

This is really crazy. I could understand if Iraq goes for a F-16/Su-30 mix.
A light/medium + a heavy fighter. Add in some L-159 and Europe, Russia and the US are covered.
Koreans build some really impressive ground kit these days. So why not show some “gratitute” by getting some of their combat vehicles ? Some Chinese ground kit, too.

I’m not really sold on these appeasement politics. But at least one could go for some useful stuff.

2 sqds F-16 (already on order)
2 sqds L-159 (already on order)
3 more sqds second hand F-16 from Europe.
2 sqds Su-30MK

Indicate some interest in Korean KFX as F-16 replacement. Or better yet, get involved in the programme.

Add in some A-330 MRTT, Chinese and Russian Choppers, et voila, everybody happy and the airforce actually looks like a fighting force and not some aircraft collection.

This is just a pic to confuse the american shaitan. The real thing looks like this:

:dev2:

Somehow I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that after all this mess the marines will lose a bit political influence in Washington.
The driving force behind the B-model and finally many of the compromises made in the -35 design were the Marines.
Tbh I never understood why the navy’s army needs an own airforce. “Joint” has been the buzzword since the 90ies.
Yet it seems to be unthinkable in the US that the aircraft providing cas for the marines has written “airforce” or “navy” on it.

If we forget for one moment that the F-35 is ultimately the replacement for the F-14 (and the SHornet just an interim solution) the -C model is a quite good replacement for the A6.
With a typical a2g load the C has actually a bit higher combat radius than the intruder.
It needs less support aircraft and most of the maintenance issues can be avoided by sticking to subsonic flight.
It has the option for supersonic dash speed, which is more than the A6 provided.

Maybe Korea is a rolemodel for the future of the F-35. Korea wants 60 aircraft, LockMart offers 36 under the assumption these 36 aircraft do the job of 60 legacy aircraft.

They don’t need an army to take the islands. What they need to do is become the most important trade partner of the islands.
If the oil bonanza ever happens, flood the island with cheap labor from Argentina. Let them settle there, wait 2 generations. Mission accomplished.

Hey, the Chinese fixed the F-35. They are better at this than LM. :p