The hostility of the Just So Flawed crowd to what seems like every other aircraft program in existence never ceases to amuse.

My grandfather was the joint secretary of the All India Muslim League, we designed Pakistan to be an Islamic state. It was the british trained bureaucracy and military that stole Pakistan from us. Another **** storm is coming if we regain her. Certainly Pakistan’s ties with the UK would come to question, but I doubt anything beyond diplomacy would come out of it.

My knowledge of Pakistan is very limited, but are you suggesting that the Islamization process begun under General Zia 1979 has been unsuccessful? That it hasn’t gone far enough? The accounts I have read posit Zia’s reforms as a turning point for the nation — for the worse.

There’s every chance it would have been solved by now if it weren’t for the meddling Iranians and a certain failed superpower stamping its feet and trying to re-live its past glory days.

Oh dear, there’s no need to bring the UK into this. 🙁

Far better to invest in IADS than attempt to take JF-17s head-to-head with Flankers.

My guess is bye-bye to the metal cowlings too, note the model on Pogosyan’s desk @ 02:40 on Peregrinefalcon’s vid above.

Well spotted! :applause:

Mind if you look at the breakdown (in the link) Mi-17s outnumber all the other contributing platforms put together!

I think India’s selections of American hardware in recent years have been sensible enough; the only one I really question is Apache over Mi-28N.

Shiv Aroor has a good write-up of IAF activity in Uttarakhand in response to recent flooding:

The massive flood relief operations in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand has seen the Indian Air Force and Army Aviation corps deployed in the greatest strength since the 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean. 45 Indian Air Force aircraft, 11 choppers from the Army, and a small fleet of civilian rotorcraft are working round the clock — and against time — to evacuate the most hostile areas of stranded pilgrims and tourists, a week after the state was ravaged by early monsoon flashfloods and torrential rain. The situation remains critical, but the one thing it has done is underscore the importance of two contracts in the pipeline by the IAF as being well worth the time and money that will be spent.

The first is the Lockheed-Martin C-130J Super Hercules. The IAF has three flying out there, landing on short airfields in bad weather — something it wouldn’t do with any of its other transports — conducting all manner of relief, including personnel insertion, standby hospital services, fuel delivery, evacuation of patients and pilgrims, reconnaissance, surveillance and disaster mapping.

[…]

The second is the IAF’s selection of the Boeing CH-47F Chinook. The IAF has a lot of helicopters over Uttarakhand right now, but only one heavylift Mi-26, possibly the only airframe still serviceable. The IAF chose the Chinook over a new generation variant of the Mi-26 in a competitive selection that ended last year. The Mi-26, a glorious chopper that happens to be the largest ever that went into production, is still gravely unsuited for operations in mountainous areas, where its large footprint severely limits where it can hover and land. It’s immense downwash is also a problem during emergency evacuations. IAF pilots I’ve been speaking to say they can’t wait till the Chinooks arrive, since their design and capabilities lend perfectly to rescue and relief operations in tricky terrain in all weather.