Always a pleasure reading your posts, madam - Hows the little one doing ?
A question, if I may : Using stand-off missiles like the Anti-Radiation Missiles or even Cruise Missile, both with extended ranges in today's arsenal - Will that not diminish the possibility of fighter-to-fighter engagement in a penetration attack significantly enough that its payload & perhaps RCS more than agility or any of the other much vaunted attributes of a light agile platform, that would be the deciding factor ?
Which is to say, in the context of Pakistan & India, most of our Forward Operating Basis are in close proximity to the border areas & a stand-off missile or a volley of such fired at predestined targets even from within our own airspace be enough to significantly compromise the offensive or defensive capabilities of whatever the adversary have ! Wouldn't that relegate the LCA & by extension the JF-17 as little more than workhorses with their prime utility being little more than Continued Air Patrols whilst its the Rafaels, the Block 52s & surely the MKIs being the definitive element in any prospected engagement ?
I do apologize if it comes across as absolute nonsense for I'm an Finance & Accounting student, but this is a question about the relevancy of such light-multi role platform that has often perturbed me !
Much obliged, as always !