AS-30L, ARMAT & Sea Eagle? Since these weapons have all been out of production for a long time, & retired by the countries of origin (& all other users, AFAIK), I suspect they’re on the way out of IAF service.

Yes they are.
My point was that IAF likes to have the choice of an air surface missile in the weapons inventory of strike birds it operates.
Replacements for those currently used are the Russian missiles, Harpoon (navy + maritime jags ) and crystal maze on the M2K.

@scorpion
This could prove crucial then.
IAF likes to have guided missile options for all the aircraft it operates.

m2k- as 30L , armat , crystal maze
mig 27 – kh 25 variants ,
mki – kh 31A/P , kh 29 variants , kh 59 , brahmos , (?) crystal maze
jaguar -as 30l , sea eagle

It is interesting to see that often the amount of communication and “belly dancing” is inversely proportional to the degree of readiness of the aircraft.

😀
but you know ,over the last few years ,the most “belly dancing” has been from the US manufacturers [LM > Boeing] followed by Mig.

The least has been from Dassault to the point of appearing disinterested sometimes.

Maybe we should discuss not only politics and endlessly the merits of each competitor but try to find out which type of aircraft the IAF lacks ?

Here is my take on the matter:

Light figher: covered with Tejas
Air superiority: covered with MKI/MiG 29 UPG
CAS: covered with Jaguar, MiG 27, M2K
Strike: partly covered with M2K

Therefore I would go with the best strike fighter of the lot. Shortlisting of Rafale and Shornet.
Final decision would depend on the commercial negotiations.

Jaguar and Mig 27 are mainly strike aircraft.Not CAS.Of which IAF has >200.The MKI is also tasked with strike besides air superiority.Previously IAF was criticized of being too strike heavy compared to other types but with the induction of the MKis the disparity has lessened.

The Japanese Navy will take part, for the second year running, in the joint naval exercises by India and the United States. These will be held off the Okinawa coast, which has the highest concentration of U.S. Marines in the region.

Link

Very good news that Japan , US and India are going on with this exercises inspite of China’s protest last time.
Last time when Japan participated , Malabar 07 , also involved Singapore and Australia.

The particpants from japan last time were..
JDS Onami (DD-111)
JDS Yuudachi (DD-103)

^^+1.These types of comments start a whole chain reaction.

that ACM comment didn’t hurt my feelings. it merely raised my eye brows and forced a re-assessement of the rogue behavior of world’s 4th largest airforce and by extension the instability south asian subcontinent.

Please dont make provoking comments.Lot can be said about who is the rouge and who is creating instability.But this is an aviation forum.Lets keep it that way.

It is not needed. The UAVs have a similar loiter-time and smart weapons tp prevent an overkill of fire-power and the unwanted collateral damage. Maybe some AC-130 can be used to hunt pirates in a restricted zone of the Indian Ocean.

How many UAVs would you need to match the gunships payload/firepower?Yes limited urban warfare I concede there is more chance of collateral damage , but what about a warzone?There you want to bring in as much firepower as possible. Infact the awesome firepower of the AC 130(and its predecessors -puff , shadow) has endeared itself to the ground troops from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

Would it be cost effective?
eg.I dont want to fire a 68000 $$ hellfire missile [say to kill a few terrorists/enemy soldiers] when a few bursts of the GAU 12 does the job.

Yes but can they be called serpentine intakes ? He claims LCA is designed with RCS reduction in mind I am yet to see where apart from its small size.

You dont get it.
By making a S duct you make it 100% sure that the compressor face is not visible , but in aircraft like the above why would you need it?They have the Y duct which acts in the same principle.All this is related to the relative positions of the intakes , the shape of the fuselage and the position of the engine.In some cases maybe hiding the compressor face is not possible without S duct.This is mostly for dual engined aircraft.In other cases you dont need it.

So having a Y duct prevents the compressor face from being visible from the front.So S duct is not necessary in this case.Therefore reduced RCS.