Hello,
I am the author of the article being discussed. First of all, I would like to thank
Zarvan for posting the article here to foster discussion. Secondly, I also appreciate comments made by
Armchair, Foxtrot etc and other learned contributors who outlined flaws in the article's analysis.
Now to the most important part, I made an account on this forum just now as one of my close associates pointed out that one member accused me of 'stealing his posts verbatim.' I shall hence outline all my sources below so that the misunderstanding can be cleared.
1- The initial paragraph where I talk about the Rafale deal is taken from online editions of Indian newspapers. Hyperlinks are embedded for references. Please check
2- The part where I talk about the PL-15 out-ranging everything in India's arsenal (except Meteors) and Delhi's focus on platform acquisition vs Pak's emphasis on sensor upgrades is taken from here.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...e-odds-against-the-elite-of-india-s-air-force. Also,
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/a...r-how-india-can-respond-to-regain-superiority
3- Information about aircraft inventory of the PAF and IAF is taken from 'List of Active Air Force Aircraft' from militaryfactory.com and details about their exact numbers were taken from the PAF's wikipedia page.
4- The part about frontline assets getting overstretched is common knowledge as the PAF has to operate limited capable aircraft across different battle zones.
5- About the part where i mention India's protracted coastline. This first got my attention after I read a post on quora regarding India's long coastline. Here is the post
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-...a-long-coastline?redirected_qid=1227795#!n=12
6- Details about specs of JH-7 are taken from two articles published by
National Interest magazine. I include the hyperlink of one article in my piece. Please check.
7- Information about the Rolls Royce Spey engine is available on the wikipedia page as well as its advantages in low flight. Furthermore, the article below clearly about most engines today being configured for high altitude flight.
https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/who-says-a-jet-cant-be-cheap-24547164/
8- Details about the Buccaneer taken from
http://www.airvectors.net/avbucc.html and Robert Jackson's book on fighter aircraft from 1914 to the present day. He clearly mentions the purpose was to design an aircraft capable of flying low below enemy ship radar horizon.
9- About the engine's durability, just check the Rolls Royce Spey wikipedia page. It clearly mentions the engine's use on Phantoms and its advantages.
10- The part where I talk about the Pak Navy's Area Denial is referenced from an article published by The Diplomat. I included this in form of an embedded hyperlink. Please check the paragraph
11-The part about Exocet missiles and their use in Falklands War is taken from a book by Max Hastings. I read this some years back and the idea was fascinating. The name of the book is
The Battle for the Falklands.
12- Information about the JH-7's payload capacity is taken from the National Interest article I talk about above.
13- The part where I say cruise missiles can be shot down by the Su-30 is taken from here
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/india/su-30.htm. About the cruise missiles following a predictable trajectory and being vulnerable to interception. I read a quora post once which talked about intercepting cruise missiles. Here is the link
https://www.quora.com/How-can-an-air-defense-system-intercept-cruise-missile
I hope this clears everything up. I wrote the article as I was myself fascinated by the idea of JH-7 in the PAF. I do remember watching a youtube video sometime back on the aircraft which got me more interested so i decided to pen a piece. Also, it is entirely possible that other members have thought about the same stuff I mention in the article but I believe this to be a case of 'Parallel Thinking' or multiple discovery. It is entirely possible for two people (or more) to reach the same conclusion without interacting. One example of this is how ancient societies developed agriculture independent of each other.
Please do go through the sources I have listed as they cover the entire article. Also, the editorial process at many international publications is very thorough and they check submissions before publishing. So, one cannot copy posts verbatim and present them in shape of an article.
Finally, I would like to respectfully say to all forum members here that you guys are most probably better aware of military matters than I am. Please do critique what I have written but kindly refrain from accusing me of stealing posts.
Thank You