I hope India does not go for the f-16's it will be a very big issue for us cuz seems as if anything we can possibley still get more f-16's although they wont be the advanced versions as of the deal laid out for india but it will be something a balance in some case perhaps anyhow we can not afford aircraft like ef for sure nor to tell u the truth any other aircraft in that range and all good things come with a heavy price tag.I guess we just have to wait and see wat india does i might be wrong but to my knowledge they were more in to the f-18's then anything but with them u never know.If they dont go for the f-16's then we should try to get much f-16's as possible while Mr.Bush is still house and also try to look at the grippen and raffele again that all depends on the india issue its hard to say right now wat is going to happen so lets wait to and see but over all for now just now i think the jf-17 and the few j-10's will do the job also with the few f-16's soon to arrive anyhow these are just my thoughts i might be wrong thought i share !!!!! its just amazing how the United States plays everyone double crossing all the time!!
As far as the American products are concerned, I have a feeling that the Indians are a lot more wary of the F-16 from a purely strategic point of view because the PAF has more experience with the platform. The only way they will consider the F-16IN is if it is different from the PAF models. I'm guessing that they'll also prefer their variant be similar to what the Israelis fly because IAF pilots more than likely have access to Israeli training facilities which have made their pilots highly competent with the Sufas.
There are also reports that the IAF pilots who have participated in exercises with Singapore, and USAF in prior exercises weren't very happy with the F-16's performance as an adversary. The F-16IN would be required to compensate for these listed shortcomings too.
The biggest factor however what is keeping the F-16IN in the race is the per unit cost, aftermarket parts availability, high level of ToT and the ability to integrate training with the Israeli Air force.
Boeing's F-18 is touted to be superior to the F-16 on most fronts, it is also a twin engined aircraft (an initial top rated priority for the IAF). With the Russian deals with the Gorshkov having gone sour thereby eliminating any possible future carrier deals with them and the US's willingness to avail the catapult system for future Indian indigenous carriers may give Boeing a slight lead because they can always offer the carrier versions (including the Growler) to the IN which would reduce the maintenance overheads. Boeing also has the ability to offer other incentives on the civil aviation front in terms of ToT and industrial investments which will certainly have an impact. The biggest drawback however is that the per-unit cost of the F-18 is bound to be much higher and the training program will be US-dependent and not with IAF's close ally Israel. I don't know what the level of ToT will be for this aircraft, but given that the F-16 is at the end of it's lifespan, the assumption is that LM can offer a much larger magnitude of ToT.
Having said all of this, Dassault still has a very strong chance given the novelty of the Rafale, the IAF's support of the Mirage2000, France's willingness to offer ToT, current infrastructure and Snecma's offer to help develop and then integrate the Kaveri engine into the Indian Rafale. Also, the IN will be given the option to purchase the Rafale-M for the carriers in the future.
