Indus Falcon
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See Oscars first post on the topic. I started writing on the subject and left my post half done as he had provided all the information. It will give you the chronology of the events with regards to the M2K saga. On this forum we had the very man who was the defence secretary to Benazir who explained the whole saga HIMSELF. No body denies that the M2K was a good plane. It was just a really bad set of circumstances which led us down the route of not buying the aircraft. The set of circumstances stem from Benazir@s office sitting on the file for 3 months, Zardari demanding 10 million $ per plane to be added to the price, the French retracting the offer on representing it which I have alluded to and later on pushing the Rafale up our noses when we wanted 58 ex French m2k5s(as Oscar has alluded to). You can yell all you like but you have to accept that the will was always there , we just did not get the chance. For what it was worth the IAF had already procured the M2ks so our buying in the late 90s or early 2000s would not have made a difference. My problem stems from the fact that once you answer a question logically you get nothing other than personal insults from Mastan Khan. This is not the way i am used to dealing with others when debating on the forum.
Araz
I wouldn't yell at someone I respect i.e. you. Disagree, sure! I disagree with my elders, but that doesn't mean I don't respect them.
Yes I have heard of the mirage saga. But the issue really isn't benazir or zardari. The issue is why didn't the then COAS Gen Aslam Baig, take a stand, like Gen Shareef did, with the Jordanian F16's? Even going to the extent of calling Dar to GHQ?
In my opinion, it was poor leadership etc. If the civilian leadership was corrupt, then why was the military leadership too afraid to take a stand?
Something of this magnitude should not have been left up to the corrupt civilian leadership. I got into a lot of trouble because of my hard hardheadedness, but Alhumdullilah, I always managed to get out with flying colors, to the extent that I was thrice promoted, just so that the job would be above my grade and the CO wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. When you stand by your oath, Allah helps you in ways one can only imagine!
Nonetheless, this is the past, but what have we learnt from it?
More importantly what I would like to know from you is, if an a/c, is readily available, and offers us nearly twice the capability of the JF-17, for a marginal price increase, why aren't we going for it? I do admit that a newer platform will have additional logistical issues.