India again and the website meant to JF-17 by Govt of Pakistan!!!
Cost effectiveness, early availability and supportability don't mean edge.
Cost effectiveness:
It means it will provide the required support with less resource requirements for much longer time, freeing up the time, material and men to spend it on other vital tasks both during war and peace.
(read more about German Vs Russian designs specially in context to the nightmare job of servicing Panzers vs. T33s and T34s). result was that the Russian weapons spent less time in the repair and maintenance shop and more in the field.
Early availability:
Thats the very essence of running a campaign. No matter how good a system or platform maybe. If its not available in time of need its good as nothing. Early availability of a platform means the commander has the flexibility and choice to deploy it. Its an open secret that both countries only have a flight time of more or less 6 minutes to invade each others airspace. Now someone tell me does that leave any room for such a luxury to wait for our aircraft to arrive some time later?
back in 71 we were promised that the 6th or 7th American fleet will come and save East Pakistan from falling. Till today it hasnt made it to the shores of Bangladesh. No matter how awesome that fleet was, the fact remains that it never in time when it mattered.
Supportability
Since PAF doctrine is mainly based on Multi role jets so it very much makes sense that the proposed aircraft fulfils that role and JF-17 thankfully does it with impressive results. It is not only a very capable force multiplier of our latest additions of Block 52 F-16s but it has the flexibility to also replace both Mirage and A-5s in the air strike role. So on one hand it will be supporting both air force & army against the aerial threat its ground attack role means it will support our artillery and armour in destroying the enemy in either offensive or defensive role.
So in short all these above elements are very much part and parcel of managing an air force. The resources are always limited and so it the time and the military is always trained religiously to adapt, improvise and respond to a changing situation. Specially war itself is a fluid concept. The chest board is not fixed, the roles are dictated by one who takes the initiative and deploys what is available NOW. Thats where the flexibility of support comes into play.
Why Reference LCA?
I think Pakistan would compare its first aircraft with the first Indian aircraft for reference and comparison. Patriotism & rivalry aside, any such comparison by either side works both ways and only helps to either raise the bar even further or adjust where there is deficiency. I think Americans do the same when they compare the Russian & European jets against theirs.
All the best