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Is the Su-30MKI Superior to the Eurofighter And Rafale?

The MKI was not a wrong choice, but rather a bad implementation of a correct one. A combination of a fighter and strike fighter flanker force would have yielded better results and much more flexible options for India's combat fleet.

India is looking to fight China in the Spralty's .. but in that its forgetting that its logistics, training and pilot intake are already overstressed as it is.

Sadly, most fanboys from the India side simply do not see beyond the Pakistan centric or the more laughable and fictional two front war scenario rather than seeing the inevitable clash of resources that will happen over much more distant locations.

I guess i am in the that fan boy club too, i really dont see any conflict between India and China at all. And for that matter i dont see one between us either. May be i am being too optimistic of the future or just plain stupid.
But i do agree that for much of our procurement history, we have been Pak centric, but that is changing. Rafales and 2nd air craft carrier are indications of this change.
As for distant resources, i have no clue where India can stake a claim, its not near the poles, and much of her EEZ is pretty well defined with hardly any island dispute like China is facing.
 
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I think that was the whole bone of contention right? The fact that MKI probably is a better in terms dog fights. You've gone as far as to call it a deadly adversary when met in Air to Air combat. Which I'd argue, isn't true in terms of BWR fights. Heck, how can you compare Russia PESA with European AESA radars? They're in totally different leagues one is passive and one is active (aggressive) and by the way of default Typhoon/Rafale will have better radas dependant systems such as APUs, avionics, targeting pods, sensors, fire control systems and so on. But as far as thrust vectoring is concerned people are rightly pointing it out. Because, that is what gives MKI an edge in dog fights and makes it a better interceptor. I don't think anyone has argued that MKI is better than any of the aforementioned planes in overall performance. Because, they're clearly in the different leagues as far as avionics and electronics is concerned.

I'd beg to differ to differ with you on your next post. It isn't some conspiracy by HAL consortium to deny private Indian IT firms the share in the defence pie. Till now the government has lacked the will power to involve pvt ltds. Also, if you were to ask any systems/embedded systems engineer they'll say the they've (HAL) done a top notch job with PESA. But obviously, putting an old man in nike trainers will only make him so much faster.

I have yet to find a SINGLE convincing argument that T/V provides any benefit beyond 10% of combat scenarios which only the bottom 90% of pilots will ever let themselves get in. It is infact the LEAST useful feature on the aircraft in terms of measuring up its performance in air to air combat.. perhaps in STOL performance and certain supersonic flight regiemes which by the admissions if IAF's own pilots the MKI's FLCS is not sophisticated enough to exploit.

Rather, the crude nature of its TVC being based off an on/off switch in the stick(as opposed to a function of stick forces, G and AoA) is testament to it actually being a detriment to effective learning of pilots to adapt to it.

I guess i am in the that fan boy club too, i really dont see any conflict between India and China at all. And for that matter i dont see one between us either. May be i am being too optimistic of the future or just plain stupid.
But i do agree that for much of our procurement history, we have been Pak centric, but that is changing. Rafales and 2nd air craft carrier are indications of this change.
As for distant resources, i have no clue where India can stake a claim, its not near the poles, and much of her EEZ is pretty well defined with hardly any island dispute like China is facing.
India is not going to be defined by her EEZ nor is she focusing on it. That policy has been in effect since the early 90's and its economy upshoots and demand for resources evolves.. the disputes over contested energy resources along with shipping lanes will too.
 
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Man I heard 2 months 3 months ago. Ill believe it when I see it.

The MKI is not a dud.. but it is a product of a flawed air staff policy that is unravelling even now. There was no need for a two seat aircraft in such numbers beyond a dedicated section of strike aircraft. The IAF had every reason both financially and logistically to go for a mix of two seat and single seat flanker variants. There could have been a mix of single seat Su-35's and MKI's which would have greatly alleviated the current pilot shortage. Yet, thanks to a mix of Russian buttering and Vodka..they bought into the idea of the Su-27PU concept even though IAF's ASR requires a different force mix and projections when dealing with India's influence in the region.

They then continued their idiotic( I have no more polite word for it) insistence that mostly state owned firms will focus on electronic integration and sub systems even though the ground was ripe with the "IT Spring" in India. Every IT and electronics start-up in India was raring to contribute but in its sense of insecurity the existing state owned or affiliated defence firms deliberately blocked that from happening. That left HAL with a limited resource (and standards) pool by which it could ensure that its QA would ensure that IAF pilots did not end up with all software and electronic failures consistently until recently while operating the type.

This idiocy is even more relevant in the procurement side of the IAF. Granted the IAF could do so with the sudden upsurge in funds available with the rise of India's economy, but the mixture of its own euphoria at its expanding pockets along with a flawed government policy of trying to make "Make in India" projects work without really letting all of India participate in them let the IAF(those looking at aircraft procurement) to act less like a smart spending air force and more like a rich kid a toy store not knowing what to buy.

Whether it is the basic training aspect, AJT, or fighter mix. the IAF has bungled up in successive demonstrations of an immature and indecisive buyer who is unsure what they really want for themselves. Granted, every airforce changes its requirements based on what the conditions of its coffers is.. but they dont change it ONLY on that factor.
The IAF on the other hand has been carrying out purchases based solely on that aspect seemingly without any consideration for basic human resource factors such as the recruitment pool and their training; leave alone the impact of having multiple types, their associated supply lines and the rest of the "small print" that goes into a force purchase.

And the sad factor is that this is being done by what are seemingly seasoned commanders who have made some well thought out programs such as the upgrade of IAF's ADGE and C4ISR which has followed such a sensible path that it almost fails to look like the same people making these decisions( Leaving aside the integration of unmanned platforms which has been similarly confused in what they really want).

On the other side, the IN has ironically done very well in terms of what it wants out of its Air Arm and where it is going with it. Perhaps they should be given control of the IAF.

So , yes.. the MKI is a fine fighter but not in the numbers and in the configuration the IAF bought it in. By contrast, both the Rafale and the EF are products of multiple air forces thinking in concepts in the 2040s and focusing on those ideals.

I won't speculate but I feel that you are looking at the strategic road map of MKI from just one specific theater of combat (could be wrong), The initial order for MKI was around 90 aircrafts, this started ballooning for the simple fact ashq could see the potential of keeping an entire squadron airborne for extended periods of CAP that it would most likely encounter, as realistically where IAF will take a beating in a Defensive scenario against china even for a limited time frame, and for this theater it doesn't not envisage a strike but a purely denial of limited air superiority. Just the fact that it can keep up 200 odd jets in air for extended period of time will be a nightmare for any ingress and that transfers to the western theater albiet the objective might differ in nature. Also the ability to move an operational unit from any command to the needed theater either in the east or the west has huge incentive. Little known fact is the last escalation in order that came about in 05/06 was from the inputs of Indian Navy, and along with it came a significant cache of KH35 and Kh31's, Your guess is as good as mine what the intended use is.

Now coming to the operational aspects of the aircraft, look at wing loading of both the eurojets and the MKI, and then look at fully loaded weight, no doubt all of them will be piggish, but now pit them at near mach speed, at higher altitudes, and you will see the advantage of control surfaces along with the much mocked TVC. MKi will fight at it's strength, without dropping it's altitude, giving a maneuverability dis advantage at high altitudes, where it's large control areas and TVC will com into play, instead of dropping altitude where the euro-jets gain agility.

Yes electronically, Both the eurojets are significantly ahead, but MKI's have been in ops for almost 1 and a half decade now, from IAF specific operational requirements, MKI is IAF's work horse, Payload, Swing role, munition consolidation, architecture, range, comms, fits te IAF requirement more than you think, and yes you are absolutely right that future purchases of IAF do tell a tell, and guess what, they just picked up another 40MKI's even when in negotiations for the rafale. Maybe the correct comparison would be with a MKI UPG with a N036 Byelka, L402 Himalayas ECM, maybe then we can have almost apples to apples comp.
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I won't speculate but I feel that you are looking at the strategic road map of MKI from just one specific theater of combat (could be wrong), The initial order for MKI was around 90 aircrafts, this started ballooning for the simple fact ashq could see the potential of keeping an entire squadron airborne for extended periods of CAP that it would most likely encounter, as realistically where IAF will take a beating in a Defensive scenario against china even for a limited time frame, and for this theater it doesn't not envisage a strike but a purely denial of limited air superiority. Just the fact that it can keep up 200 odd jets in air for extended period of time will be a nightmare for any ingress and that transfers to the western theater albiet the objective might differ in nature. Also the ability to move an operational unit from any command to the needed theater either in the east or the west has huge incentive. Little known fact is the last escalation in order that came about in 05/06 was from the inputs of Indian Navy, and along with it came a significant cache of KH35 and Kh31's, Your guess is as good as mine what the intended use is.
. MKi will fight at it's strength
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As I said, it is incorrect execution of a good idea. Every air commander and their pilots wish to fight at their strength but it is only where each aircraft can exert their will in the end is what matters. A front where the MKI will not be fighting 50 km inside enemy lines but rather 50 km within its own to exersize its potential as a BVR missile truck and "wall".
Yet, that could have been done by a Su-35 derivative as well instead of forcing the IAF to search for twice as many pilots and associated training.
 
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I have yet to find a SINGLE convincing argument that T/V provides any benefit beyond 10% of combat scenarios which only the bottom 90% of pilots will ever let themselves get in. It is infact the LEAST useful feature on the aircraft in terms of measuring up its performance in air to air combat.. perhaps in STOL performance and certain supersonic flight regiemes which by the admissions if IAF's own pilots the MKI's FLCS is not sophisticated enough to exploit.

Rather, the crude nature of its TVC being based off an on/off switch in the stick(as opposed to a function of stick forces, G and AoA) is testament to it actually being a detriment to effective learning of pilots to adapt to it.

Disgreed. Erm let's say you're flying an aeroplane that normally stalls at certain angle of attack. But using canards (extra flight control surfaces) you can increase the Vs (Stalling velocity) and thus delay the stalling AoA. But then again there's only so much you can do with control surface but imagine if you were able to change the direction from which the thrust is acted upon the aircraft. how stupidly quickly will you be able to manoeuvre this plane? Not too mention it already has canards. This is what makes it more agile. Also, I have a feeling you might be downplaying the TVC. Dunno what you mean by FLCS though buddy, sorry.

I'm not experienced on the subject matter as I have never flown a fighter jet let alone one with TVC, but as having done a thesis on Aircraft Stability and Dynamics for my M.Phil and an employee of aerospace field, I am sure it will be a very useful feature to have. Also it won't be used exclusively in supersonic flights (although bear in mind most dog fights these days are) if you wanted to intercept an aircraft why won't you want your jet to be more agile and manoeuvrable?
 
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Disgreed. Erm let's say you're flying an aeroplane that normally stalls at certain angle of attack. But using canards (extra flight control surfaces) you can increase the Vs (Stalling velocity) and thus delay the stalling AoA. But then again there's only so much you can do with control surface but imagine if you were able to change the direction from which the thrust is acted upon the aircraft. how stupidly quickly will you be able to manoeuvre this plane? Not too mention it already has canards. This is what makes it more agile. Also, I have a feeling you might be downplaying the TVC. Dunno what you mean by FLCS though buddy, sorry.

I'm not experienced on the subject matter as I have never flown a fighter jet let alone one with TVC, but as having done a thesis on Aircraft Stability and Dynamics for my M.Phil and an employee of aerospace field, I am sure it will be a very useful feature to have. Also it won't be used exclusively in supersonic flights (although bear in mind most dog fights these days are) if you wanted to intercept an aircraft why won't you want your jet to be more agile and manoeuvrable?

For someone who has supposedly done that M.Phil.. Im surprised you skipped the basic component of drag and its effect on velocity. And any Master of Philosophy would have picked up that FLCS which is an abbreviation General Dynamics used for the F-16's control system is probably FCS or flight control system.. because the usage of the abbreviation with the TVC and stick would have given clear clues about.. and unless its a very radical "Aircraft Stability & Dynamics" program, I am surprised they skipped the F-16 and its pioneering concepts in it.

So again, besides throwing what are nothing more than obvious strawman distractions in an argument that is already way beyond that level of discussion along with some needless and rather dubious qualification bragging; I see little change in my opinion from what you have written.

As far as the only question in there regarding the requirement of being more agile and manoeuvrable.. I would love to have those capabilities but to be stuck using them only 10-20%(and that figure is getting less and less relevant with modern high off boresight missiles and BVR) and that too depending upon the stupidity of your enemy to give you that advantge at the cost of increased weight. To add insult to injury, not only is that system not that sophisticated that it works with my aerodynamic surfaces to minimize both induced and parasite drag; its design is essentially drag inducing even when used sparingly due to it being a cheaper workaround to actual 3d vectoring.

Your ball M.Phil.
 
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India is looking to fight China in the Spralty's .. but in that its forgetting that its logistics, training and pilot intake are already overstressed as it is.

If we fight China in the Spratlys it would be most likely a Naval fight
and that too a part of US led Coalition

Today if a war breaks out we would be targetting Chinese ships when they enter
Malacca straits with our Su 30 and Mig 29 K

AN Indian CBG with Rafales in the South China Sea will happen after Seven years
at least

Sadly, most fanboys from the India side simply do not see beyond the Pakistan centric or the more laughable and fictional two front war scenario rather than seeing the inevitable clash of resources that will happen over much more distant locations.


The two front scenario is a reality that we have to face

Ongoing Revision of Indian Army Doctrine | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

Only when we are sufficiently prepared ; then we can dissuade the Chinese
from opening a second front

This new doctrine is called Active deterrence
 
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For someone who has supposedly done that M.Phil.. Im surprised you skipped the basic component of drag and its effect on velocity. And any Master of Philosophy would have picked up that FLCS which is an abbreviation General Dynamics used for the F-16's control system is probably FCS or flight control system.. because the usage of the abbreviation with the TVC and stick would have given clear clues about.. and unless its a very radical "Aircraft Stability & Dynamics" program, I am surprised they skipped the F-16 and its pioneering concepts in it.

So again, besides throwing what are nothing more than obvious strawman distractions in an argument that is already way beyond that level of discussion along with some needless and rather dubious qualification bragging; I see little change in my opinion from what you have written.

As far as the only question in there regarding the requirement of being more agile and manoeuvrable.. I would love to have those capabilities but to be stuck using them only 10-20%(and that figure is getting less and less relevant with modern high off boresight missiles and BVR) and that too depending upon the stupidity of your enemy to give you that advantge at the cost of increased weight. To add insult to injury, not only is that system not that sophisticated that it works with my aerodynamic surfaces to minimize both induced and parasite drag; its design is essentially drag inducing even when used sparingly due to it being a cheaper workaround to actual 3d vectoring.

Your ball M.Phil.

Again a rookie mistake. Drag has ZERO effect on velocity. I think you meant Lift? Drag has no effect on Lift either!! It is Lift that induces the Drag. Hence the term 'induced drag'. Induced from what? From lift. Velocity is a velocity whereas Lift and Drag are essentially accelerations! I'm sure you can appreciate a high ranking university's neutral stance on not endorsing any companies and their products? I'm sorry if I wasn't familiar with the PDF lingo.

And dubious qualification. lol. 2010-2014 B.Eng in Aeronautical Engineering from Loughborough University and 2014-2016 M.Phil in Advanced Materials Science (With Aerospace Materials) from University of Leicester. Many PDF members (including former Administrator Asim) know me from facebook and can varify this. Sir If I was to send you my certificates, transcripts and my dissertation, will you be able to promote me to a 'Professional' or 'PDF Think Tank: Analyst' or something? You may go and check my induction thread. I've been a member since I was just doing my Bachelors.

All in all, I dunno if you've misunderstood me or just dismissed my opinion as a nobody (I don't blame you) of the forum before knowing my credentials. But I have never disputed Rafale and Typhoon are superior to MKI. I just said TVC is certainly a useful feature to have and MAYBE just MAYBE Su-30 MKI has an edge in dogfights.

I never disputed that dogfights are becoming less and less common these days and so on. All of that is well established. Anywyas, I'm off to sleep it's half 3 in the morning here. We shall continue this tomorrow.
 
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Su 30 MKI has a lot of room for Improvement and upgradation
especially radar and Avionics

That is why we are Going slow on Rafale

If Rafale deal does not happen we will have 500 Su 30 MKIs
 
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Again a rookie mistake. Drag has ZERO effect on velocity. I think you meant Lift? Drag has no effect on Lift either!! It is Lift that induces the Drag. Hence the term 'induced drag'. Induced from what? From lift. Velocity is a velocity whereas Lift and Drag are essentially accelerations! I'm sure you can appreciate a high ranking university's neutral stance on not endorsing any companies and their products? I'm sorry if I wasn't familiar with the PDF lingo.

And dubious qualification. lol. 2010-2014 B.Eng in Aeronautical Engineering from Loughborough University and 2014-2016 M.Phil in Advanced Materials Science (With Aerospace Materials) from University of Leicester. Many PDF members (including former Administrator Asim) know me from facebook and can varify this. Sir If I was to send you my certificates, transcripts and my dissertation, will you be able to promote me to a 'Professional' or 'PDF Think Tank: Analyst' or something? You may go and check my induction thread. I've been a member since I was just doing my Bachelors.

All in all, I dunno if you've misunderstood me or just dismissed my opinion as a nobody (I don't blame you) of the forum before knowing my credentials. But I have never disputed Rafale and Typhoon are superior to MKI. I just said TVC is certainly a useful feature to have and MAYBE just MAYBE Su-30 MKI has an edge in dogfights.

I never disputed that dogfights are becoming less and less common these days and so on. All of that is well established. Anywyas, I'm off to sleep it's half 3 in the morning here. We shall continue this tomorrow.

Again, qualifications or otherwise matter little in an anonymous forum. You can be the queen of England for all I care, it is your logic based on the laws of aerodynamics and not whether your university shunned all mention of the F-16 like voldemort that matters here. What Asim knew or not knew is also irrelevant since beyond a dinner I know nothing of Asim nor he of me. I dont dispute your qualification nor endorse it because it is irrelevant on an anonymous forum.

Im not sure what rookie mistake is when you claim that drag has no effect on velocity(although the actual term would be speed since velocity is a relative term depending upon how you look at it) . So even if the increased velocity results in a higher drag, that drag is to have no effect on the aircraft?
If I remember these guys(and supposedly they are good)..
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According to what it says there and to this rookie since I really know little about aerodynamics and aircraft beyond obsessing over it; drag does not like thrust. Which unless exceeds drag means the aircraft is going to slow down. Now nowhere am I implying that drag makes velocity and not the other way around, but if one takes drag as higher to thrust.. then a higher drag will lead to a reduction or negative acceleration. Which means that it is no longer displacing within the airspace at the same rate as it was before. So if by some reason the combination of both induced and parasitic drag exceeds the available thrust of the aircraft.. I would reckon that by basic addition of forces that are generally ok for even high school kids..the velocity of the aircraft would be lost.

So regardless of the qualifications, your own post has the answer to the question how drag will effect lift even though it is the other way around. If we go by the basic stuff NASA has put out there and your talk of induced drag (which being dependant of the characteristics of the wing and the angle of attack in a nutshell..unless you want to quote Kermode's "mechanics of flight" which you are welcome to) which has a variable of angle of attack in it.
Within this mindboggling ideas of lift, drag , thrust and weight are rates of turn which come about due to an aircraft's bank angle and then centripetal force and all those wonderful and plentiful set of equations that are best suited for those with formal study to claim sole rights of understanding and ownership apparently.

BUT, going on this line.. that critical angle of attack where the maximum lift occurs and beyond that is what we call a stall. Sure that comes about a wonderful and variable graph of Lift coeff and AoA , not to mention speed.. but at the end.. it is a loss of lift(unless you have a better definition for it). Now you can post away various equations and definitions but at the end there is no denying that an aircraft is able to maintain control in the air via directing the airflow around it. So if it loses that airflow due to a decrease in speed or disruption of airflow or whatever various tangential terms you wish to choose.. the bottom line is that the aircraft will lose its effectiveness in controlling its direction.Now here is a funny thing. Because you are trying to create more lift(or maintaining it in case of turns)by increasing your AoA) you are creating induced drag..drag that needs thrust to balance it.. otherwise you will reduce the airflow over the wings and lead to a reduction in the rate of displacement in air(rather simplistic way to say it but) and velocity.

Which brings us to Post-stall manoeuvring or for the audience.. being able to point the aircraft where you want to after losing your ability to do so with your aerodynamic surfaces. That is where TVC came into play. The idea that if you got into a situation where you exceeded your aircraft's aerodynamic capabilities and now were looking to still be able to point your nose where you needed it was the basic drive for this technology's rise. This could mean pointing your nose when you would normally would not be able to or pointing it faster than your aircraft's aerodynamic forces would allow you to.

That created a lot of excitement during the early 80's since back then the best Air to Air missiles still needed you to have their seeker pointed at the enemy to make them lock on and go off like a hound dog. Additional benefits of TVC included a reduction in drag via aerodynamic surface deflection at high speed along with STOL capability(you can explain away these things if you wish, you got the degree). Yet, at the end.. when using TVC for heavy manoeuvring.. you were still stalling the aircraft.. and basic physics meant that unless your aircraft had a ridiculous T/W ratio.. you will be falling out of the sky when you use that capability.

The USAF Flight dynamics laboratory had the following conclusion regarding post stall manoeuvring and turn rate:

"PSM is a result of high angles of attack, greater than the stall value. Two different problems were addressed. The first examined instantaneous turning performance. The second focused on minimum time turn problems. The impact of both vectored and nonvectored thrust was considered. It was proven that minimum time turns fall in the vertical plane.

For maximum instantaneous turning rate and nonvectored thrust high angle of attack results if the speed is less than the critical speed which is approximately Mach 0.2. The optimal angle of attack approaches ninety degrees as the speed approaches zero. For vectored thrust, the stall angle of attack is optimum and the thrust vector angle is the complement of the angle of attack. PSM is not optimal if thrust vectoring is available. For minimum time turning performance, maximum thrust is optimal. At the end of the trajectory, the optimal angle of attack equals that for maximum instantaneous performance. PSM is optimal. As the thrust to weight ratio increases, the maximum angle of attack increases."

Basically, TVC does not prove that beneficent to turning the tightest and instead is useful for pointing the nose the fastest.

Now considering that modern combat is built upon the foundations laid by that wonderful man known as John Boyd and his concept of energy fighting( I dont think he made it up by the seat of his pants) which even the IAF uses as much as its avid fans like to not paint it out so. Here is a copy of it(http://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2011-052-doc1.pdf). In a nutshell, Air Combat is a science and not an art based on ever new ways of managing the "energy" of an aircraft (potential to kinetic and vice versa in a simplistic way) and using it for setting up manoeuvres using those aerodynamic forces. Basically, what the man stressed is that an aircraft with low energy potential is a dead duck in combat. Pointing the nose in important, but effective energy management can negate that. Thus the idea of a energy fighter was born in the F-16 and even today aircraft like the MKI.

So when you have a system such as TVC that is essentially detrimental to energy conservation and optimal usage.. why would someone employ that except only as a last ditch manoeuvre. Perhaps against a single adversary without TVC the capability of pointing your nose faster is useful.. but when coupled with many vs many fights.. the idea of losing energy to kill one fighter whilst potentially creating a fatal situation for oneself seems rather a needless "extra". With today's high off boresight systems, that need to point the nose is also going away fast; so the main reason for TVC is gone.

But that is not the end of the story. Because there are three operational concepts seen of TVC. The first is the basic one dimensional thrust vector of the F-22.. only moves in the Y axis.(if you look at it from the aircraft's nose) which is simpler in what it can do but also lowers costs..the 3D nozzle like that on the Mig-29OVT( move in both X and Y) but complex and heavy.. and the one in the MKI which moves in a gradient on X and Y and is essentially an attempt to get a compromise on generating both X and Y forces(which is a rather clever idea).

How that actually increases the drag verses a single axis movement like the F-22 or F-15 SMTD I will explain later.


And oh yeah.. did I mention the increase in weight which needs the installation of canards to counterbalance the aircraft? Although as such it brings benefits in fuel burn, takeoff roll and ability to keep RCS spikes from control surface movement low(although the idea of keeping the RCS low of an elephant like the MKI is laughable).
 
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Veterans of air combat analysis is not the same as veterans of air combat. And Vishnu doesn't use that term to describe himself. It doesn't change the fact that he has important access to the IAF.

And he is present during all exercises, even during some of the more important exercises like Iron Fist and Live wire. What he has said has been verified by other professionals also. The IAF has also confirmed it through their press release.

And you don't need to patronize the Pakistani members here.
Vishnu Som of NDTV is an A hole ! believe his propaganda at your own peril.
 
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Care to give the official link with PAF kills ?

The source site is no longer available. However, your compatriot's words might help you come to terms.

PAF kills versis IAF kills

Any independent Source besides PAF ?

Werrell, Kenneth P. Sabres over MiG Alley. Naval Institute Press, 2005.

Battle for Pakistan by John Fricker, Ian Allan Ltd, London 1978.

Polman, Norman and Dana Bell. One Hundred Years of World Military Aircraft. Naval Institute Press, 2004.

Pakistan Air Force Combat Experience

Fighter Pilot Aces List from Fighter Pilot Aces List
 
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Yet, that could have been done by a Su-35 derivative as well instead of forcing the IAF to search for twice as many pilots and associated training.
MKI can be flown just like a single engine by a single pilot if needed, although not done very often. Su35 gave very little advantage compared to MKI for the price, Whatever goes into India, will most likely Come out of Irkut and not Knaapo, why do you think there are so many disgruntled voices for the t50
 
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That's not true. Try to find the figures to support that claim, and you will realize that it is far from true. Especially since 2005, the IAF's crash rate is pretty much the same as western air forces. (Despite the geriatric age of half the fleet.)

Indian Air Force faces major challenge after losing 7 aircrafts to accidents in 3 months - IBNLive

Why the Indian Air Force has a high crash rate | Russia & India Report

Why are India's air force planes falling out of the sky? - BBC News

Unlikely. These exercises and foreign deployments cost a lot of money. Both sides do the exercises to test themselves, to learn. They would try to make every penny spent worth spending. Sending MKIs and pilots and ground crew to the UK, and holding exercises, all for a token gesture from either side to the other, would be an immense wastage of money and resources.

A bribe can do anything.

That story was definitely intentionally leaked with the Blessings of IAF bosses
Because it had truth in it

The clarification later on does not matter ; The Arrow hit the target and did its job

The clarification was a polite way of saying " Hey bud ; Chill ; Let us do it one more time"

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Well you know what your Generals said in 1965

One Muslim is equal to Ten Hindus

And the result ; you know what happened

How long will you and @Windjammer live in 1965

Well you know what happened to your prime minister when the war ended? Heart attack bitch. Also, you still couldn't take Lahore despite having 700,000 troops against 200,000 Pakistani troops.
 
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