mavaustinthe whole drama about Indians fighting the LTTE and helping them was RAW the intelligence agency was helping the Tamils, who have Indian background in getting a separate homeland and carve Sri lanka out of the Singalese(sp?) part. On the other hand Indian Govt. sent the IPKF to fight the sepratists in Sri lanka. Indian military had no idea that RAW was helping Tamil Tigers.
Well, eventually it caught up and the mission was a disaster on the other hand, not that Indians were not trained well, they are well trained in Jungle enviornment due to Nothern insurgencies and fight in kashmir and also on the eastern front.
Rajiv Gandhi, the then prime minister was killed in a suicide bomb attack also by a tamil woman who was supposedly an Indian national and not a Sri lankan. South Indian Tamils have always supported the tamils in Sri Lanka and hence the not so good relations with India. After the fiasco Sri lanka had also asked pakistan to help them but I believe pakistan declined excpet they sold them weapons and gave some training.
Sri lankan special ops was also trained by the Pakistanis later on
mavaustintypical of spicing up and allowing a political swing on the news. Apaches and other equipment such as secured communications, anti-tank munition and such can be categorized as anti-al qaeda, but Pakistan military has other needs also such as eastern and western border. Relations with Iran are not too good as they used to be during Shah’s time.
Pakistan has requested between 6-8 Orions, Harpoons Mod-II, and even ships on lease. Since construction of Gawadar port is in full swing, PN’s doctrine has changed. Strategic position of Pakistan has changed since 9/11 due to being a gateway to Iran and Afghanistan.
A lot of equipment which was being used by the US forces in Northern Pakistan against Taliban was left for the PA use, among them are 11 Cobras which was initially flown by PA pilots. Tons of Hummers and other logistical vehicles are in use. Along with few of the Northern air bases which were backups are now fully operational with concrete hangers.
mavaustin——————————————————————————–
(June 7, 2004): In what might be the biggest ever military deal Sweden has signed reliable sources have quoted senior officials of SAAB, Ericsson Microwave Systems and Volvo-Aero saying that Pakistan is on the verge of concluding deals worth more than $4.7billion. The deal includes Saab Gripen fighter aircrafts and Ericsson Microwave Systems Erieye AEW&C mission systems along with extensive support systems. Sources are further quoted as saying that Pakistan will buy 44 Gripen fighters with an option to buy another 60 aircrafts and an undisclosed number of Erieye AEW&C surveillance aircrafts.
Above news is from Forecast International
mavaustinForecastinternational
(January 21, 2003): A team of French aircraft manufacturer Dassault will visit Islamabad to discuss a request of purchase (ROP) of Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter aircrafts by Pakistan. Both the aircrafts are to be dispatched to Pakistan for extensive role demonstration, according to senior Dassault official. Dassault has intensified its bid to sell its line of fighter aircrafts since losing to the American fighter aircrafts in Poland and South Korea.
The recent demonstration of BAE/SAAB Gripen fighter aircraft in Pakistan has added more worries to Dassault future in that country. Pakistan has been a long and satisfied operator of Mirage aircrafts, and Dassault is very nervous that it might lose its lucrative market there also.
mavaustinLibyan Mirages pretty soon !!!! 😮
mavaustinIAF to retire 70 MiG 21 aircrafts next year
[Hindustan Times via PTI, 26 May 2004]
The Indian Air Force will retire nearly 70 MiG 21 aircrafts that were produced from 1966 to 1970 and have completed their technical life next year, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy said on May 26th. “The MiG 21s on which the boys are being trained are on type 77, the oldest variant of MiG 21s, which are used to train the pilots,” he said adding the training was done at Tejpur and Bagdogara. “These were produced between 1966-1970 and would have finished their technical life probably by next year,” he told reporters at Bangalore after addressing the training commanders conference at the IAF Training Command HQs.
“So there are no more aeroplanes, we are desperate. We need the trainer (AJT) more importantly than a combat aircraft,” he said, defending the country’s decision to acquire the Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) from BAe systems. Lauding the work of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in its upgradation programme of the Jaguar fighters and MiG 27 aircraft, he said, the team of HAL, DRDO and IAF have built an indigenous mission computer for MiG 27 resulting in savings of crores of rupees in foreign exchange. “We have given approximately 40 MiG 27 aircraft for upgrades and about 50 to 60 Jaguar aircraft and another 50 to 60 aircraft would follow,” ACM Krishnaswamy said. HAL flew the first prototype of the upgraded MiG 27 in March this year and has delivered eight upgraded Jaguar aircraft to the IAF, after concurrently developing the prototype.
mavaustinDefect grounds entire Jaguar fleet, commander is clipped
SAIKAT DATTA
NEW DELHI, MAY 29: The Indian Air Force ordered an immediate technical check-up of its entire Jaguar deep-penetration fighter fleet after a Court of Inquiry into the May 7 crash found a snag (missing split pin) in the ill-fated plane engine. A similar problem was found in another operational aircraft at Ambala air base.
A team of experts from the British Aerospace, the original manufacturers, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and IAF today started examining all the Jaguars at the Ambala base. The entire exercise is supposed to last at least :confused: two weeks. India has at least four squadrons (around 85) of Jaguars, out of which four planes have crashed in 2004.
The IAF also removed Wing Commander S. Sarkar as commander of Ambala-based 14th Jaguar squadron after it was established that improper ‘‘command and control’’ was responsible for the mid-air collision of the two Jaguar fighters on April 2.
When asked whether the ‘‘split-pin’’ problem was the reason for the check-up, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy told The Sunday Express: ‘‘There could be a thousand possibilities and when we find the problem people will be informed and action taken. We will check all aircraft and once we do that they will fly again… flying and checking are a continuous process.’’ He, however, admitted that preliminary findings indicated that the ‘‘split pin’’ was indeed the culprit.
Meanwhile, it is now established that Lt Gagan Oberoi’s Jaguar crashed into Lt Mayank Aggarwal’s fighter during a routine Valley mission near Sonamarg-Gund area on April 2.
The IAF is tight-lipped about the accident but the FDR from Oberoi’s Jaguar shows that the mid-air collision took place due to improper procedures.
The evidence collected by IAF indicates that Oberoi did not fall back a mandatory separation of one kilometre from Aggarwal’s plane once the four fighters on the mission went into cloud cover.
The mission was being commanded by Sarkar, who has an exceptional track record. However, his removal as the commander of 14th squadron is, as the IAF feels, because he did not give proper instructions that day.
According to sources, Oberoi and Aggarwal did not maintain the safe distance even as both fighters were on full throttle.
It seems that Oberoi’s plane in a bid to avoid a perceived hill deviated from its flight path and went straight into Aggarwal’s plane.
This happened after Sarkar and the second fighter broke the cloud cover at 18,000 feet.
Incidentally, the Jaguar’s do not have TACAN system (that automatically helps aircraft to maintain distances during manoeuvres) on board unlike the Mirage and Su-30s.
mavaustinDragon
I would disagree with your last assesment. China doesnt have to order it in large amount or in any amount. One can produce a piece of hardware that is aimed for export market and not for the domestic market.
based on the predictions, cost and benefit analysis, a company can come up with a product which can fulfill the needs of foreign market but i snot needed for local market. Consumer market in some cases can be the example.
FC-1 is a cheap solution with decent avionics suite based on how much the customer want sto spend. It slike a buying a car with extras if you wanna spend the money or you can buy the bare minimum without power windows and seats.
FC-1, LCA and T-50 fills that area. Noe everyone can get an F-16s, heck bangladesh couldn’t even get Block-10 F-16s. But FC-1 will be easily availbe to them with either Chinese or European avionics.
mavaustinlast IDEAS had a model of 155 mm Gun model which according to HIT is being in developmental stage. I had a brochure but can’t seem to locate it. It has quite a few interesting bit of information.
mavaustinAccording to my sources, PAF is definitely going for J-10 and the recent trip of the Chinese Defense Minister and General was related to major military acquisition.
Few things that are being considered are
1. Mid to hight alt. SAM system.
2. Possible sale of FT-2000 anti radiation middile.
3. 4-6 F-22P frigates and some naval choppers. The only one I can think of is the Z-9. Besides 2, all the ships will be build in Pakistan.
4. J-10 with european avionics.
5. Some rumors about 155mm SPA artillery, but not confirmed yet.
mavaustincompared to LCA, T-50 and other regional jets FC-1 and K-8 are doing pretty good as far as sales are concerned.
mavaustinPLA
your sense of humor or should i say sarcasm always amuses me 🙂
mavaustinand who said J-10 is a photoshoped myth:rolleyes:
mavaustinYossef Bodansky is a Chechan muslim, yet he is very anti islam and muslim countries. He has been on the payroll of KGB for sometime when he was writing against the Chechan rebels and also tried to connect them with ISI which was later debunked.
I have met the guy personally in Europe. He has also been on CIA’s payroll. KGB and Indian RAW used him quite frequently. This guy basically has no loyalty and I would take every bit of his word with a spoon of salt.
mavaustinsharmaji
was blowing up 80 trucks with ammos during the last stand off and loosing few hundred soldiers part oif the training excercise also, not that it doesnt happen with other armies, but they don’t come up with excuses like you just came up with.
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