Especially when there are other more capable assets available. The MkI is ideal for this sort of weapon because its got a huge dish size and power to match the range.To be honest, I don't like what is happening to the Tejas. It smells like specification creep. It should have been an easy to produce, light, cheap, quickly adaptable by young pilots entering service, and able to do simple interception, point interception at that, without the weakness of the predecessor MiG21 that relied so heavily on ground control. Its AESA radar is great, a good step forward; if it has, in addition, a couple - not more - of good air-to-air missiles, for WVR and BVR use respectively, it should be left alone to do that and nothing more.
Combat Air Patrol is precisely what it should be doing. Giving it other tasks - like using the MiG21, a classic point interceptor, for ground attack - will completely obfuscate its main objective, to keep enemy aircraft far from the assets under guard.
Perhaps I don't understand very well, but shaping this Maruti 800 among fighters as an AWACS killer is a big mistake.
The tactics described are probably capable of improvement. The SU30 should be the candidate AWACS killer.
Sounds good.
Our chief of the Air Force (in the war game) used it as an escort, and it worked well, although the Tejas is a short-legged plane (like its predecessor. the MiG21).
Let's try it.
A fews MKI equipped with 6 of these could orbit 50-80km within Indian airspace and just keep ripple firing to push PAF AEW and escorts out of the picture or even kill some.
But when this happens - and the assumption in the scenario is that somehow it is a surprise attack will the Pakistani AD sit quietly?
This is a first strike cover and then AD weapon once a conflict kicks off.
The Tejas could escort much like the Bison did blending in but it’s short legs mean it isn’t going very far and at best will help punch through before needing to RTB.
Although, with the future ADGE of both countries such adventures are likely to be done once a considerable number of unmanned aircraft paired with hundred upon hundreds of ARMs have been expended already to degrade AD.