I don’t think EO DAS is a waste of time/money. I do question whether it should’ve been part of the base F-35 program.

^ They’re aiming for 180kN from WS-15 IIRC. Lower TWR than AL-41/F135 tho, which fits with observation I made early on — that it appears J-20 could accommodate larger engines than are currently fitted.

^ It’s a line from Dr. Strangelove (“Mr. President, we must not allow a mine shaft gap!”) but playing off the double meaning of ‘gap’ in this context. 🙂

We cannot allow a bay door gap!

And yet Russia sells arms to Vietnam whilst simultaneously enjoying a much better relationship with China than India does.

India has expressed an interest in acquiring the submarine and both the Russian design bureau and the shipyard that will construct it

I was skimming the article and read this bit in isolation. Reaction: “wtf, good luck with that.” 😮

Is there any indication of how India will eventually go about constituting its own nuclear submarine capability, i.e. Su-30MKI style foreign design with indigenous mods and production vs. Tejas style indigenous design with foreign consultation?

Clearly, India could find a market in such countries as Vietnam and possibly Taiwan for its Arms. Hopefully, it will take advantage of the opportunity……………time will tell.

Unlike Vietnam I think Taiwan would be far too sensitive a candidate. India’s relations with China today are better than at most times since the 1962 conflict, and neither nation is interested in throwing that away.

I don’t know about that. Nonetheless, many of the weapons are offensive in nature. Either designed to project power or support land operations. Especially, the maritime assets like Aircraft Carriers and Amphibious Ships. Which, clearly are a threat to countries that have island disputes with China. Like Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, etc. etc. etc.

It is reasonable for other nations in the region to be concerned at the development of Chinese military capabilities and to respond accordingly. It is presenting this growth of China’s capabilities as some kind of militarisation with ominous/expansionist undertones that is the problem. China’s military spending has remained stable as percentage of GDP for decades, and that level is within the normal range, lower than America’s. If China was really embarking on a program of military expansion, things would look very different.

OTOH Chinese behaviour in recent years tells another story. Regardless of motivations, China has succeeded in spooking any number of regional nations into a closer embrace with each other and the United States, a nation which was not particularly popular in the region pre-2009 or so. In succeeding in aligning disparate regional powers against it, China has undone decades of ‘peaceful rise’ rhetoric and basically shot itself in the foot. Of course, China’s loss is America’s gain.