Dash
SENIOR MEMBER
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- Sep 9, 2009
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He clearly stated there was a requirement for an additional 6 SQNs of Rafales, the comment about "Rafale-like" a/c is nonsensical but intentional so as to not seem that he was undermining the GoI/MoD's bargaining position.
In July he said we need 80 Rafales, in October he says he needs 6 squadrons. He sounds confused. But thats not the point here. The point that needs attention is what is IAF's (A subset of India's requirement) is. Falling numbers (squadron strength) or operational gaps (High-MID-Low combo). Here both seems to be equally important. but one has to be prioritised. In such a case what seems to be the issue herethat IAF has prioritized both, while MoD has prioritized Operational gap and then numbers. This 36 is for the operational gaps, which once added will help IAF in filling that gap for sometimeuntill GOI finds an alternative. FGFA or AMCA, LCA Mk2. There are options available.
There is also another issue, where if you seal the deal for 126 Acs then you have to committ half of teh money while signing, meaning less funds for additional shopping in the budget year. The MoD and PMO got it right by spreading the expenditure evenly.
Comparing the IAF to the force it was in the 80s to how it will be in 2030 or 2040 (the Rafales will serve for 30+ years) is illogical. India was a very different country in the 80s and so was the IAF. The maintenance issues were not so apparent because the IAF understood they could only afford limited numbers and hence had single types per airbase (i.e. all of the Miragee 2000s deployed at Gwalior). But the IAF today wants full spectrum war fighting capability meaning that all their assets can be deployed to any of their geographically dispersed airbases= this would not be feasible for just 36 fighters- Dassualt, the IAF and MoD/PMO know as much.
Agreed. They can be based out of a single airbase, not an issue for maintainance.
This is nonsense the IAF has NEVER "erased" the low-end requirement but had pushed forward with other procurements as the LCA matured. The IAF has been consistent for 20+ years, there is none of this doctrinal shift you are talking about. They want a top end air dominance fighter (MKI/FGFA) a light point-defence fighter (LCA) and a long range strike fighter to compliment both (Rafale). Neither the MKI nor the LCA can be considered substitutes for the Rafale, the Rafale is an essential purchase whether you like it or not and it is simply unthinkable to go for a number as low as 36.
Anyone dreaming about this needs to wake up- it would HARM India's interests.
On paper they never did, but they did so by sytematicaly by their lack of focus on LCA. I dont blame IAF here. ADA is also to be blamed equally. But IAF could have accepted LCA in its current config, with a little higher number than 40. Could have been welcome step for ADA, HAL as further confidence booster. Like I said, they keep crying about falling numbers, but they expect GOI to do some miracle to fill that number, like committing all the resource to buy a foreign fighter. IAF khush.
So now the LCA is a substitute for the Rafale? It never was and never will be. The IAF never refused to induct the LCA, they simply insisted it met their AQSRs which it now does.
The LCA will be in service with 200+ units, the Rafale with 80-120+ (189 perhaps).
Mate, they wanted additional Mirages, that time where was Rafale?, since the French offered an advanced version they opened up competition. LCA was not even in picture then, heck not even Rafale!, it was MIrage 200 in IAF's mind. Do you see where they messed up?
Utter, utter hogwash my friend. So now road-mobile SAMs are a substitute to long range fighter jets? Please, this is sheer lunacy and no one is proposing this either in the IAF or MoD.
S400 to "shut up" the IAF- that's a new one!
Yes, its a new one, but the idea has merit.
Then when Modi announces how many Rafales are actually coming I hope you will support him still
Yes.
and regarding CAG, they might question this, but the idea has merit. Remember this is a govt to govt deal. India holds better bargaining power with French govt than Dassult.
I am not against more Rafales, I am trying to explain that MoD's approach is in the right direction.