that deal to upgrade the existing 52 Mirage-2000 H/THs to the -5 standard should be signed sometime this year itself. the IAF ACM is on record as having stated that its nearing signature. and while its tempting to think of these superb Mirage-2000-9s, I doubt that the IAF would spend money on them, with the MRCA deal being on the forefront..

The first MRCA is expected to enter service in 2013-14 and the final by 2020. These are sparingly used readily available advanced Mirage 2000s which can be inducted right away. Its the sensible choice than upgrading the likes of MiG 29s if you ask me. These can serve for sometime to come and will allow us to retire the non Bison MiG 21s faster.

Btw it seems that only 30 odd of the UAE Mirages are the new 2000-9s. The others are older ones upgraded to the 2000-9 still older airframes.

Buying American Jets will be a Big Logistics Nightmare for the Engineers ,Recently IAF has taken steps to make major airbase in country operate all the jets available in IAF ,till now Some Aircrafts and Squadrons are only based in XX airbase due to the logistics based for that particular aircraft and Trained manpower to handle XX Aircraft ,Inducting American jets will need allot of Training of Ground crew among all airbase and i fear we will have logistics and Grounding of Aircrafts as soon they are inducted ,Flying Some jets based on Boeing Platform is different we have so many trained Ground crews and Engineers who have handled 737-800

India has already ordered 6 C 130 Js and another 6 are on the pipeline. It means that some sort of Lockheed training and logistics would be already in place by the time the F 16 IN is inducted. Because its such a big order, I have no doubts that the manufacturers will give adequate training when or before the first batch is inducted.

uss novice

You aint deserving of a response with your anti-american bias. But it is not civil when you call people brain damaged etc. just because they disagree with you.

No, it is not. Even simdude97s dishonest proposal wouldn’t wreck the EU, but the damage (not wrecking) it would do is one of the reasons why it won’t be adopted.

Its better for the rest of Europe to not depend on the U.K on such ambitious projects as the EF. They are just too close to the U.S and can/will always find American alternatives in case of delays or financial issues.

Possibly as they will fill in the gaps quickly and will allow to reitre Non bison Mig 21s

I can see countries like India, Pakistan, Greece etc. going for the Mirages 2000-9s.

I thought the F 16 was also pretty decent in that role. Israel uses them for the A2G role a lot.

80 Blackhawks available for $1.2 billion with spares, support, training ? no way ! Turkey paid $1.1 billion for 95 Blackhawks way back in 1992..in 2008, that price would’ve been much higher for 80 Blackhawks, with the cost of infrasturcture and training support that would be required for an all-new item in the IAF.

besides, it appears that you’re ok with US arm-twisting policies in the name of diversification of suppliers..if India should diversify, it should stick to tried and tested UK and French suppliers, with whom India has had little problems over decades.

Apparently the IAF do not feel the same way. If you have been following the BR thread on MRCA recent reports state that the F16 IN is the front line contender.

Like I said the logistical concern is the right one. But sticking to something just because of it may not be that good in the long term. The edge Russian hardware had over price is waning day by day. The only reason we are still buying their stuff is because we already have similar types and not because of their qualitative/financial edge.

US arm-twisting ? Its a thing of the past with regards to India. You may as well wake up and smell the coffee, This is the Partnership of the new century. 😎

Besides comparable European stuff are more expensive 50 Cougars for 1 billion lol

RIP