PAF_fan the US Congress has officially filed reports now wrt to the
exercise.

the IN Navy chief has said yesterday Scorpene talks are complete
and only cabinet clearance is needed.

They are far more credible than “unnamed sources in defence ministry” or “senior retired admiral” or “my milkmans cousins nephew”

the article clearly states the sonar, combat system, systems inside
the sail, the VLS and many other things non-russian. hull design, propeller, the torpedoes/Klub, help with the reactor & propulsion gear would be Russian sourced.

it should be a respectable entry into the SSN world even in 2010.

yeah I had forgotten the fixed wing stuff. need to read up on that.

Rupak I did so on previous page. However I think that list indicates all totals delivered and some would be retired now or
relegated to a training role only.

> but almost as many choppers as India

well we just “agreed” india has around 300 and Pak around 150.
thats not “almost as many as”, thats twice!

> One side will have a marked advantge in terms of airborne
> and mechnised battalions/brigades

as of today, india has more mech and armoured formations.

> Trucks will not be used in open desert warfare

wrong. most of the army type trucks have large soft types for
low GP and adjustible suspensions for going over soft ground.
and why restrict to only desert ? there are other areas too…

> Pakistan and Indian Army have similar C3i and training
> capabilities

jmho thats not true anymore. IA has been holding many very
large integrated exercises jointly with IAF in last six yrs.
I think your statement was true up until late 1990s when IA began to get fresh and heavy investment. when was the last
multi-division PA field exercise with say 100 PAF a/c in support?

globalsecurity.org puts PA at 520,000
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/army.htm
IA at 980,000 from same site.

180+85+24+mi8+25+4 = 318 + mi8 today -vs- 150 today

You can only compare today to today and tomorrow to tomorrow.

in future dhruv, more mi17-1v and some scout helos under LOH
are to be added but number & delivery rate of the second two
are unknown. more mi8/chetak/llma will also be retired.

I think the PAF inventory represents total delivered rather
than whats in use today (?) the older PAF/PA inventory will
also go away….pumas/llama/alloutte/the small bell helos..
..the new Uh1/Bells/Mi17 will take over.

the ratio seems to be about equal today, probably in future
also unless a huge order for Dhruv/LOH is placed in near future.

er, HAL has produced about 600 llama+alouetteIII under license.
about 50% of these probably remain in service today because
production started in 1970 and 1976 and has been continuous till date. 85 Mi17, 24 Mi24/35, unknown number of Mi-8, 25 dhruv today + 95? on order, 4 Mi26. comes to around 553+mi8. we know iaf will flog these beasts well past retirement age. am ignoring the LOH purchase proj & attrition on both sides.