IMO building 2 similar aircraft was foolish.

Had the countries concerned been prepared to compromise on the requirements of their air arms and had they considered the financial advantages of co-operation it can be expected that many billions would have been saved in the cost of equipping their air forces while the export prospects of the jointly developed fighter would have been better than the combined prospects of Rafale and Typhoon.

And this shows pretty much what LM thinks of future export orders for the F-16.
Also I don’t think the Indians will focus to much on the ability to export the future aircraft, they have so much internal stuff to deal with as it is already and for the foreseeable future.

I get your point that the market for new F-16 looks to have been satisfied so it is likely no export orders would be received for Indian-built aircraft. Gripen E, however, looks promising in terms of some export demand. Choosing to make Gripen in India would give the opportunity to set up an alternative supplier to HAL with the big advantage of that supplier not being state-controlled. GOI may not be interested in exporting fast jets but the management of a company seeing potential profit from such an activity should be. Why would you not want to make more money out of the product you manufacture by extending your client base, given the chance to do so?

They have never attempted to export even Su-30MKI which they have already (more-or-less) mastered, why the sudden rush to export Gripens? :confused:

I don’t see that GOI has the vision to see that India could develop its aircraft industry into a major production force on the world stage. Its ambition seems to be limited to import substitution.

I would definitely not go to for F-16, sorry. End of life, no further significant improvement in sight and nearly as heavy as Rafale. Gripen might be an option, but no clue in the end that Gripen E/F will be that cheap considering the amount of tech inside. if really needed. (we do not know, remember Lockmart and Saab offers were unsollicited).

To me the fundamental duty of GOI is to provide the means to defend the country’s sovereignty, hence the existence of the armed forces. If defence of India is contingent (among other things) on an adequate force of fighter aircraft and that force is scheduled to be weakened still further in coming years from an already inadequate position then steps to correct the situation need to be taken asap. A Make In India programme will not alleviate the problem of inadequate fighter strength for many years. I hazard it would take 18+ months to select an aircraft to manufacture and to negotiate a contract with the OEM concerned, 18+ months to set up a production facility, 18+ months to assemble enough aircraft to equip a squadron. Can the IAF do its job providing an adequate fighter force if it has to wait until 2021/2022/2023 for more fighters?

One option that I would like to see considered would be that of making more Tejas Mk1. Instead of using the production facility committed to Mk1 to then make Mk1A, build a new facility for Mk1A production. Raise Mk1 production to at least 16 a year. Keep pumping them out until Mk1A is fully developed and tested and production has ramped up to the level required to replace aircraft being retired. Delays in Mk1A turning up in numbers could then be mitigated by continuing Mk1 production.

Mk1 may not be a very good aircraft compared to F-16 or Gripen but that is not the comparison that needs to be made. The valid comparison to make is with existing equipment that is in dire need of replacement, particularly MiG-21. Tejas Mk1 is a more capable aircraft than MiG-21. Every MiG-21 replaced by either a Tejas Mk1, Mk1A, Gripen or F-16 results in a stronger IAF.

It is much more convenient for IAF to just import and build a new fighter in the numbers they want as the Production Process etc is taken care by OEM , the quality control is taken care by OEM , IAF gets the pristine shining fighter it needs in the number they want and take care of spares and support infrastructure to the requirement IAF wants , In many ways Rafale Deal is the perfect example of this , It is Dassault responsibility to build Rafale to IAF specs and get the infrastructure spare to IAF requirement and provide the uptimes IAF wants at a cost.

Building an industry takes a lot of pain and effort specially when the production cycle starts , the Quality Control , Numbers , Spares , Support has to be build by the Industry and IAF will have to closely associate with it at every stage ,Any hits on that front means IAF takes the hit as well , There are risk involved in this as hundreds of contractors and subcontractors are involved in Tejas program , There is the entire Flight Testing , Qualification Process both flight , weapons etc and IAF has to be involved at each and every step , This flight test program may or may not meet IAF expectations that means more delays.

All in All imported fighter save IAF a lot of headache & time and its just far more convinient then getting involved in building an Aerospace Industry , Its called the path to least resistance. IAF has been sucessfully doing that for many decades now !

But unless India takes steps to further develop its fast jet industrial capability it will always be dependent on foreign suppliers. Developing an indigenous capability may be a headache for IAF but the initial market to make LCA and any MCA viable is the Indian Air Force. IAF is heading for a severe shortage of fighters with the retirement of a large number of MiG’s looming. To forgo the development of an indigenous industry by buying foreign aircraft to avoid giving the IAF headaches is not a sensible proposition to me. Don’t recall the numbers offhand but if foreign aircraft are purchased to keep squadron strength at an acceptable level the cost will be VERY high and if GOI won’t provide the funding, where does that leave IAF? With an unacceptable number of fighters, so problem NOT fixed.

IMO it makes much more sense to back LCA than it does to set up a Gripen or F-16 production line. If the guys at HAL are not capable of building Tejas on an acceptable basis (quality is acceptable, production rate is acceptable), that should be acknowledged and outside help should be bought to get the job done.