So the Rafale did beat the Typhoon in all competitions with ease. 😎

Well competitions are not merely decided on ability alone, Politics familiarity etc comes to play as well. And the Saudis have the money to order Raptors in bulk let alone the typhoon.

As time goes by fighters do become cheaper. Especially the ones which took so much money to develop. Its not going to be like legacy fighters where inclusion of new tech increases the price.

The Euro fighter I think we can all agree does little justice to its price tag. Even the Rafale is a better option in terms of price – performance.

I think at the moment the Sukhoi name has more credibility and respect worldwide.

May be many countries chose F 35, because it was the next best thing and the F 22 was elusive and unreachable. I think this would be bad news for at least the F 35A.

If you don’t mind my asking what on Earth makes you think that? When was their last major purchase from the USA? All their latest military-technical work has been either indigenous or with Russia, with a couple of instances of work with Israel for electronics. As for western offerings in MMRCA, EFs and/or Rafales are not looking at all rosy (might as well have bought more MKIs) and F-16s are going to suffer from the fact that their neighbour operates them if nothing else. About the only western offer I’d give any real chance of success to is the SH, but even there the crippling limitations on US military exports are a significant deterrent. The MiG offer has more chance than most.

To be entirely honest I can’t understand why India needs MMRCA at all. Not two, not three but something like seven ongoing aircraft programmes is frankly ludicrous, even allowing for the fact that two of them are more to do with creating an industry than equipping the IAF.

With regards to the PAK FA itself, is there any chance that the ‘PAK FA-MKI’ (for want of a better name) would be accepted in limited numbers for the RuAF as a training version, or is this part of the reason they want Su-35BMs?

The IAF is a large Air Force and it wants to operate several different class fighters. The light class consisting of the Mig 21 Bisons and the LCA. The medium class consisting of the MRCA and MCA, and the Heavy class consisting of the Su 30 MKI and PAK FA MKI ?. I think its part of the doctrine.

It is true the that the IAF currently operates too many different type of AC. That is why it has been categorically stated that a single plane will win the MRCA order. And all the current ground attack types (mig 27 and Jaguars) are going to be replaced by the MCA. The Bisons are to be eventually replaced by the LCA.

So by 2025 IAF plans to have a fleet of PAK-FA, Su 30 MKI, MCA, MRCA(whichever plane wins), and LCA. Five AC types looks all rite to me as the PAK FA and upgraded MKI, MCA etc may share engine and avionics. Not much of a logistical nightmare.

I think the Russian version of the plane will be developed first and then the Indian version.

So for the moment SH wins in BVR and EF has an edge in WVR