I think from a Strategic point of view , Pakistan needs to give France a BIG real contract not this rinky dinky avionics upgrades
Look we have 192 Mirages, we need to get rid of these 192 mirages by 2018 , 2015 we sign deal with french to get 150 Rapheal with the AESA radar , and may be 50 Rapheal option for being built in Pakistan I doubt France would object
1) It shows the respect for french for sticking out with us
2) It builds on mutal trust and friendship we share
3) We get AESA
4) We get 4.5 generation fighter
5) France gets major contract for its fighters and more R&D
This is a real deal !!!
JF17 thunder I would be ok if we get Chinese - AESA on it and Chinese avionics on Block 2
Our deal makers don't know how to communicate with people on strategic matters - if I was involved we would already have 2 Merlines being build in Pakistan Shipyards, and we would be talking about Rapheals being made in France for Pakistani Airforce as we speak
And we order 100 J10B from China and 100 J11B from China to show our faith in Chinese Friends and we already are building AWACs in cooperation with China ~
Rapheal is our 4.5 Generation bird we need it 2015
Wow, this one takes the cake!
Who pays for these 150 Rafales? Even our cash rich neighbour India is having second thoughts about having such an expensive fighter in their MMRCA race. And you want Pakistan to buy 150 such fighters!
I would say that our money would be better utilized to feed & resettle our IDPs & building up education & social infrastructure.
Our economy is already like a patient that is being kept alive by heavy dosage of glucose & you want this patient to get into a ring & fight? Its good that we won't be paying so much to France after all. This money could be well spent on educating our youth, so that 20 years down the line we become self sufficient in every aspect.