... the conclusion that the Tejas cannot operate without its GPUs and hence it is a logistics nightmare and a maintenance hog.
That's not sustainable logic, Bossman!
I know guys who have wives but those missus are never on the pictures with them.
Sometimes it's because the photos are from work and sometimes the bloke is ashamed
but in either case, the wifey does exist?
And I highly doubt that the Thunder maintenance can be done entirely with 2 laptops, no
matter how rugged as that would make it the easiest fighter to care for worldwide.
Even if we were to assume that the Tejas requires more maintenance ( without saying hog ),
it likely is due to its genesis. I'm no big fan of the LCA myself mate but as I explained to the
less sensitive Indians, the value of it may not be in the product but in the process.
Let's be critical and start by saying that the LCA is barely enough to replace MiG 21s. Fine!
We'll suppose a couple hundreds to be made and used in that role. We'll suppose further that
the naval version never comes. Tejas serves 25 years-
ish and is then phased out.
If all the lessons are learned and serve as a basis to build a much better successor, it's OK.
By comparison, Pakistan was less ambitious, with a second role in the JF_17 under China's lead.
Assuming the plane to be as useful to the PAF as Tejas for its own, ( Thunder has a bigger role
but smaller planned numbers ), it would seem fair to expect that ToT returns will be lesser.
So better aircraft with less knowledge gained vs outdated air scooter but lots of empirical gains?
How would each justify their choices?
In a nutshell, jet fighter programs do not exist in a vacuum!
If your citizens are cavemen but for some reason you feel the need to protect them with jet fighters,
you'll need to buy the plane since you can't build even the cockpit ashtray on your own, right?
Yeah, well, not only the plane, bro! The plane
and the maintenance guys
and the pilots and so on
will
all have to come from the outside.
Some African countries are famous for having bought simple enough MiGs and Sukhois and having
those flown by Russian or South African "military advisors/mercenaries". The moment cash dwindled,
they were left with unusable ACs and thus virtually no AF to speak of.
In reverse, if you have all it takes to build Deathstars, you do that then slap on a hefty dose of propag ...
huh, say publicity to convince the whole planet your stuff can't be beaten and sell it either for profit or
as a way to infeudate them to you, sometimes both!
That would cover extremes like Palau and the US ( no offense to either ) but what of the rest of the gang?
India has enough cash, few trustworthy friends and loads of patience ( born out of their strange relation to
time ) : they go for the drawn out solution that should pay in a couple decades.
Pakistan has a helpful friend or two but little cash and a sense of clear and present danger : it goes for what
will serve ASAP and accepts that local production of star fighters can wait.
It's that simple!
Of course, at the moment, Thunder is more useful but that is a snap pic out of a timeline my man!
The ultimate goal, let's not forget, would be to manufacture the fighter you need from inception to
retirement which darn few countries can do alone.
In order to judge how well each approach worked, we'll have to wait.
Plus, how do you measure success? Two friends decide to become runners : one aims for 10K while
the other contends in the 5k race. The former falls short of the finish line or time limit while the latter
comes in with a last place but completion attained. One did the job but the other ran longer; who won?
They can discuss it acrimoniously for eons without conclusion ... but if you ask the peeps on the podium,
it really doesn't matter as they celebrate and show off their medals?
If India faceplants partially with the LCA but gets up, dusts itself off and succeeds on their next attempt,
it will have been worthwhile. That's what training is all about, buddy!
The presence or size or colour of their GPUs, as funny as you may find it, is not a proof of anything, really.
Have a great day, Tay.
