Why? Because it implies capability. It’s basic marketing hype. The people that pay for these things don’t use them, so it gives them selling points in easy to understand language. It’s language that isn’t necessarily all encompassing, nor true in every case. But it sounds pleasing to the potential customer in such a way they can justify their decision.

The answer is every neighbor poses a threat to their sovereignty. And Iraq is nearly twice the size of the UK. Iraq is bigger than California and two-thirds the size of Texas. The F.3 is a great candidate that can defend Iraq, but at the same time is unlikely to threaten it’s neighbors offensively. Just because you’ve said the same unsupported claim that Tornado is a bad choice doesn’t make an argument. Iraq needs planes yesterday and this WAS a viable option once upon a time.

A criticism of retiring the Tornado was that they spent the money to get more hours out of them and now they aren’t going to use those hours. It originally was designed for 4000 hours then expanded to 8000 hours.

The J-10 isn’t really an LCA, but the T-50 Golden Eagle would be one to compare. The Tejas is another. But the J-10 is a mid-range sized fighter nowadays. J-10 is more comparable to the Japanese F-2, Ching Kou, and F-16.

Too bad the coast guard can’t find funds for them as a first response maritime SAR asset. A two or three man crew could respond quicker than a helicopter in a lot of cases, spot the ship, then direct in the extraction team.

I’m surprised the AMRAAM or Meteor, being they get let loose first, aren’t out there on the wings and the IR-homing options internalized. Seems counter-intuitive with the sensor fusion for the pilot and command guidance of the current heat-seekers.

If India had an indigenous stealth program that would make sense. Unfortunately they hire out their best work. Maybe the ATD-X will be ready quicker and they find themselves disenchanted with PAK-FA. Japan might be willing to swap some shop talk at that point or make an outright sale to India if they find it to their own advantage. I don’t see Japan too interested in Tejas at this point. Maybe India has know-how in another field they would be willing to swap.