Dream On what. The SH has a good chance to win the MRCA, and if this is near the truth it could well equip the two IACs.

its not so easy..IN has pilots already training on the MiG-29K in Russia, it already has a simulator ready by Rhinemetall and the first MiG-29KUBs are due to arrive in India shortly.

the issue that is most galling is that as per the original contract, any follow-on purchases of the 29 MiG-29Ks on option, was to have been at the same price as the original MiG-29Ks, as long as the order was placed before 2012 or some date ( can’t remember exactly)..that date has surely not passed, whereas the price escalation violates the terms of the original contract.

one more thing, we might just want to keep our heads cool till we hear something from a more respected defence correspondent..Vivek Raghuvanshi’s sources are suspect and he was the one blowing the trumpet about IAF Mirages to be upgraded with Israeli radar and weapons..that turned out to be pretty much false, as the Mirage upgrade will be with the Thales RDY-3 and French missiles.

Seems the Russians are going to screw us over this one too. Well let the Vicky use Mig 29s. And lets not buy anymore for IACs, SH should do the job in those. 😀

which report? As far as I know (based on a Force mag interview with an IN official), the IN already has 3 upgraded SHars in service and HAL is working on upgrading the rest..

In the same article which claimed that the Russians are asking for $77 million per Mig 29 K

60% Price Increase On MiG-29Ks for India

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI NEW DELHI — Moscow, which once offered to sell India additional MiG-29Ks for about $46 million apiece, now wants about 60 percent more for each multirole combat jet.

In 2004, the Indian Navy ordered 16 MiG-29Ks for about $740 million, a deal that included an option to buy 12 more at the same price.

Now the Navy wants 29 more MiGs for its Air Defense Ship, a carrier under construction at the state-owned Cochin Shipyard, because the Light Combat Aircraft won’t enter service for seven to eight years, and an upgrade of the service’s Sea Harriers is not taking off as planned.

But in mid-December talks here, a six-member team from Russia’s Rosoboronexport armsexport agency insisted on a price tag of $75 million apiece, Indian Defence Ministry sources said.

The Russians say they have improved the MiG-29K by adding self-defense chaff pods and other modifications.

The Navy has yet to receive the 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat MiG-29KUBs, which were to arrive between 2007 and 2009, a Navy official said.

The initial batch of MiG-29Ks was to fly from the Admiral Gorshkov, a Russian aircraft carrier whose delivery to India has been delayed from 2007-08 to 2012, thanks to Moscow’s insistence that the price for purchase and refit be hiked from the original $1 billion to nearly $2.2 billion. The Indian side has yet to formally agree to the new price.

Indian MiG-29K pilots have been training in Russia. The 2004 contract includes hardware for aircraft maintenance and pilot training, including flight simulators and interactive ground- and sea-based training systems.

The Navy official said the first MiG-29K would be delivered in early 2009 and will be based in Goa until the Admiral Gorshkov arrives.

The K model is more advanced than the Indian Air Force’s MiG29s, having a multimode radar, more internal fuel capacity, a glass cockpit, more advanced avionics, an arrestor hook for carrier landings, stronger landing gear, folding wings and better engine protection against foreign objects, the Navy of0ficial said.

So… Stategy and politics have nothing to do with death tolls and humanitarian crisis??

Dude you really are from another planett:confused:

I was only analyzing the strategic implications of it in the future. Things like this have happened through out history and will happen again regardless of what you or I say or do. In the bigger sense only the politics matter.

I told you, I was talking strategy and politics, not death tolls and humanitarian crisis. It is the price Iraq had to pay for a regime change, and they have a better future now than slow death under Saddam. Years from now only the former things will matter and only those will be accounted for and the GWB will be hailed a genius.

Excellent News. I read on another report that the IN is having problems with upgrading its Harrier fleet, do you know exactly what the problem is ?

They are the choice of the Palestine people. That is democracy for u, it do not stipulate you recognize Israel. I am not a HAMAS fan. It just shows you however that when there is no security and prosperity, people are bound to vote for organizations with extreme agenda.

Tell me if I get you right:

1) The US launches wars not to promote democracy or retrieve WMDS as it officially declares but to achieve geo-strategic aims.

2) The US is right in chiding allies if they do not sufficiently support the US in its endeavour to secure these narrow (in the sense they benefit only the US) american aims.

1. The First is true. All great powers throughout human history have done so. Why should the U.S be any different. And it is not like they invaded some peaceful democratic state. They invaded Iraq headed by a man who has committed grave crimes against humanity. The world is rid of Saddam, just that the Americans did not do it for free. Why would anyone venture into something if there is no profit at the end of it ? especially when they risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of men and women ?

2. The Allies which go to war with them will eventually reap the benefits of the spoils.