There are some good feedback from the first operational users of the Tejas.

ANALYSIS: How LIMA deployment marked new high for India’s Tejas

So far, 45 Sqn has received 12 IOC-specification aircraft, with another four to be delivered soon. Next year it will realise its full strength of 20 jets, when it receives four two-seat examples in the FOC configuration.

The main difference between the two standards is software. FOC-model aircraft will be cleared to 8g, while current IOC examples are limited to 6g.

I guess I knew but never really realized that the LERX on the F-15 is an active control surface used by the FCS.

India-US ties: Indian attaché to be posted at Bahrain’s US Naval Command

The Indian attaché will be posted with the NAVCENT in Bahrain, where the personnel will coordinate the joint activities of the US and Indian armed forces. He will also look at the logistics support when it comes to warships and aircraft of the two nations, the official told HT.

The unnamed official said that the Pentagon has also given a nod to the presence of a representative of the Indian Army at the Defence Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx).

An interesting development. It seems that this article below from Dec 2017 called for this exact thing to happen and might point to future developments.
Take Small Steps to Advance the US-India Relationship

Naval analysts have suggested a host of steps to address this challenge, including inviting Indian Navy liaisons to U.S. Central Command and Africa Command, discussing cooperation outside of PACOM at the next Maritime Security Dialogue, and opening channels of communication on disaster response, non-combatant evacuation, anti-piracy, and maritime domain awareness outside of PACOM.

Indian-made Akash medium-range air defense missile system at DSEI 2017l

except the strap band to hold what I suppose is an electrical wire…

I would guess that this is a testing/qual flight for the helo carrying that single, blue inert round and launcher. The taped wire could be for the strain gauges or similar instrumentation of the system under test.

If Indian MOD had listened to IAF’s original proposal to buy ~130 Mirage 2K around 2003, the last batch, or so, would be undergoing final check out right about now. The HAL production line could then be switched over in the next 2-3 years to start the MLU process for the first of 130.

Earlier, someone on this thread mentioned that it won’t matter to us what aircraft is chosen because we’ll be feeding ducks at the old folks home by then.

The IAF was forced to give up 20 years, 2 decades, just to select a modernized analog of the 20 yr old M2K…