Maybe for the Yaks if VSTOL landing was not the preferred choice of the day.

What does the Irani air defence network consist of?

Did they actually get those s-300 batteries?

What upgrades have they made over the last decade to their SAM defences and Air Force, I do not remember anything that Iran bought of note, for a country with a lot of natural gas and oil, they sure dont buy a lot due to Ayatollahan economic policies.

I dont think that India will buy 125 Rafales and the Eurofighter is off the mark in terms f pricing, it appears to be either discounted rafale or Mig-29

Of course I prefer the MCA

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_432.shtml

On May 16 2002, INAS 300 participated in the most glorious event yet – a day long joint exercise with the air wing of the French nuclear carrier Charles de gaulle. Code named “Varuna-2”, the second bilateral joint excercise required the Sea harriers operating from Dabolim, to take on the Rafales and Super-Etendards of the French carrier. One part of the exercise involved four Sea harriers defending the participating frigate INS Godavari and the destroyer INS Ranvijay against a strike package of two Super-Etendards, given cover by two Rafale-Ms. The results of the experience have no doubt hardened the White Tigers to elite proportions. The Charles de gaulle, accompanied by five ships of the French navy, was back in 2004 for the second exercise “Varuna 2004/1”, held between the 10th to the 14th of April, off the coast of Goa and the joint aircombat exercises between the Rafales and Sea Harriers continued. Always operating with modest equipment and resources yet coming out with extraordinary results, the White tigers have built an enviable reputation for themselves and continue to remain the forefront of Indian Naval Aviation.

I think that this speaks volumes of the quality of the modern day Indian pilot and the tough training regiment that we go through, exercise after exercise, be it the IN or the IAF, results continue to surprise many who used to call us less well trained than others.

Wolverine

The MKI may be another story when it comes to absorbtion rates although spending more in house rather than outside would give the IAF a bigger budget.

The LCA however is another story, it is a single seater that will replace the MiG-21 fleet, meaning the pilots who fly these planes will be transfered to the LCA, hence increasing the production of LCA to J-10 numbers is a must so that the MiGs are replaced asap and those pilots switch. Infrastructure must be setup now, not later so that absorbsortion rates increase, its something called planning.

It is always better to spend Rupees rather than US dollars, hence increasing the future production rate of LCAs, ramping up the su-30 mki together with infrastructure cost increases etc plus spending more on the MCA and or PAK-FA is better in the long term rather than buying upgraded 4th gen fighters, to me, that seems to be too Pakistan specific, we need a qualitative edge vs the numerically superior Chinese AF, simple.

Yes the INdian economy is doing extremely well, just here in Mumbai highrises are comming up like crazy and things like fcuk, zara, Gucci etc are everywhere now but that does not mean that we can afford to spend 60M on a Rafale which wont suit ou long term requirements past 2020 when 5th gen fighters dominate the skies.

Somehow we all seem to know less about the status and life story of IN Sea Harriers, so if they are not retired, what will they do? I certainly hope that they give it some Israeli avionics upgrade and missile upgrades as well.
Also the IN budget will have to accomodate two fighter planes, why have the inferior Harriers when you have the MiG-29Ks, better retire the handful of Harriers.

And is it then confirmed that the IN Harriers will be retired since the crew that flew it are being retrained for MiG-29K operations?