although that im not to fond of the F-35, it does make sence for India.
the only downside however is that the F-35 wont be available until production hits full swing.

partner nations are likely to get there F-35 orders first, so india would not propably get there first lightning II until 2017, at the least.

another awnser would be to buy/lease ex-USMC AV-8B+ Harriers as a stop gap. a number of these are currently in storage at AMARG, so these could be made available pretty fast.

to be honnest, that is if the price increase is true, its only natural the Russia is asking more. India is the only -29K customer at the moment. the MIG-29K was initially cancelled after the Russian Navy selected the SU-33.
reviving the design and producing it limited to numbers of course makes the price of the aircraft fairly high.
if the Indian Navy would have ordered, for exsample, 50 aircraft the price would have eventually stayed stable.
but were talking about 16 to 24 aircraft.

when India would order 24 to 30 more MIG-29K’s for there indigenous carriers, the price could drop. most companies give some sort of “high numbers discount” to armed forces buying large number of a certain product.

just one question, isnt it cheaper for a country to build its aircraft under license?
if yes, why doesnt HAL offer to produce the numbers of MIG’s required.

i thinks its obvious that Russia is trying to milk India out like a cow.
they should have went for the american offer for the ex-USS Kity Hawk and Super Hornet.
there are more aircraft available for conventional carriers.

for the kitty hawk you have the Superbug, Rafale, F-35C, E-2C,…..
with STOBAR carriers like the Gorshkov and Kuznetsov, you dont have much choise but the SU-33 or MIG-29K.
unless SAAB or EADS design a STOBAR naval version of the Gripen NG or Typhoon.

India is already developing a naval version of the LCA, why dont they indigenuosly modify air force MIG-29’s or SU-30.
that would cost conciderably less, if you have the technological know-how 😎

More ex-Belgian F-16’s and probably A-109’s for Jordan?

Jordan is finalising the acquisition of nine more F-16 fighters from the Belgian Government which will be added to the 16 Falcons already acquired from the Air Component by that country. Belgian Minister of Defence Pieter De Crem (CD&V) is expecting the green light by the inspection of the Finance Ministry by the end of January or early February before the formal F-16 contract can be signed. The aircraft concerned are still operational but fit in the planned force reduction programme which will brings the number of operational F-16’s from 72 to 60 aircraft. Jordan also expressed an interest in an unspecified number of Agusta A109BA helicopters, eight of which are kept in storage. Source: Belga

source: http://www.baha.be/Webpages/Navigator/News/news_2009_1.html

First Belgian Seaking retired

Today, at 11.00h, Belgian Defence/Air Component Seaking Mk.48, serial RS01, took of from its base at Koksijde for the very last time.
before flying on to its new home at the Brussels Air Museum, she flew one last time over the Belgian coast, in formation with 2 other seakings (RS04 and RS05).
the RS01 made its first flight on December 19, 1975 and entered service on april 1 1976. she was only 2 days away from reaching its 33rd year of flying.

after arriving at Brussels around 12.30, technicians started to remove most re-usable parts of the helicopter in preperation for its new display.
the reason the RS01 was retired is not because the aircraft was obsolete, but because the ComOpsAir had insufficient spares to keep its current fleet in the air.

at the moment only 2 seakings are airworthy (RS04 and RS05), another has now been grounded due to technical problems (RS03) and another that is now been used as a source for spares will now also be made airworthy again (RS02).

all seakings are sheduled to be withrawn from service between 2011 and 2013, when the first of 10 NH90’s is expected to be delivered.

Here’s a picture i made of the final flypast over Koksijde, more pics and a video can be found here:

http://www.freewebs.com/nilssteyaert/spottersblogairshowpics.htm?blogentryid=4403122

RS01 is the lead helicopter

first Belgian Seaking Mk.48 retires.

today, it was announced that the first of 5 Belgian Defence Seaking Mk.48, serial RS01, is to be retired and will make its final flight to the Brussels Army Museum on friday december 12.
RS01 was delivered to the Belgian Air Force in 1976 and became operational in April 1977. 32 years later, it has accumulated almost 10.000 flying hours and saved countless lives.
1 seaking is now in maintainance and appears to be used as a source for spares (RS02), 3 other seakings (RS03, RS04 and RS05) will remain in service until at least 2011, when the first of 10 NH90 is expected to be delivered to 40st Squadron where it will replace both the remaining Seakings and 3 Navy Allouete III’s.

source
http://www.sgkoksijde.be/forum/viewtopic.php?t=529&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

from what ive seen on another forum, if you look at the 3-ship formation in flight, you can notice that the one in the back is a SIAI S-211.
there were apparently not enough flying Gnats available.

the ones that were stationary on the ground (and on the carrier) were definitly fakes 😎

if i may have my 2 cents in this (and to get back on topic)

i personaly think the JSF is more like the F-117 on certain points,
its stealth, it can be used for stealth attacks over areas with heavy AA defences.
but its internal weapons load is far to small for me,
most users would like to carry more then just the internal load, but that increases the RCS, so why buy stealth fighters then.

to me the Royal Navy is better of with a navalised typhoon.
you dont need to have a carrier with catapults, just look at russia (and india).
if they can be launched from a kuznetsov-like carrier, then thats good to.
although i do prefer a catapult take off system, its safer.

as for the RAF, why not try to get lockheed to design a “stripped down for export” version of the F-22. they have a larger weapons load, better agility, range and on some points buying them directly in low but decent numbers would be cheaper then what they have now put into the JSF program.

if the US is so scared of exporting the F-22 as it is, why not take out all the “sensitive” equipent and put in older exsisting equipment (from exs. F-16E/F) instead.

as for that price of 58.7 million per piece, i dont believe that for a second, its propably somewhere like $80 to 90 million a piece, and thats for the A-version, the B-versoin might even near the cost of an F-22.

so in other words;
RAF: Drop F-35 and buy Tranche-3 typhoons (of F-22)
RN: drop F-35 and buy naval typhoons, Rafale M or Super Hornets.

or even better, develop a stealthy Super Harrier GR.11 😀