These figures bother me a bit. The first part suggests that the deal is for $8 billion dollars, roughly around Rs.50,000 crores. Apart from the figure being a bit mind boggling, how does it square with "savings" of Rs. 60,000-65,000 crores? What is the definition of "savings" being used here? Non-purchase of the balance quantity of 90 aircrafts is considered as saving? Or that the normal cost for the 36 aircrafts would have been Rs.60,000-65,000 crores extra? Since that is obviously absurd, RM is referring to the unspent part which raises the question (apart from the definition of savings) - Rs.50,000 crores for 36 aircrafts but Rs.60,000-65,000 crores for the balance 90?
That's what @PARIKRAMA stated earlier too, the DM is making statements that doesn't add up and at the end it boils down to saving money only, if you get a clearly smaller order. I have some doubts about the figures though, since we know from the French Senat reports, that the flyaway cost for the French government is far lower.
I have some doubts about the figures of the speculated Kuwait order too, since even the costs for the US navy recently were higher than in the past and they come in flyaway condition. But for India they don't play any role, because they don't meet our technical and operational requirements in the first place. You can always pay less, if you are ready to get less in return, but that's not what we wanted. We had a specific requirement in mind and those, that suited them the most, were shortlisted and the one that was the most cost-effective of them was chosen and if the PM would had played it at least smart, he would had asked the Germans for a counter offer for 36 off the shelf fighters, to reduce the costs further. Now he can only reduce the costs of Rafale from what Dassault was asking, but that's possible only by getting rid of all the industrial benefits IAF and MoD worked so hard for, in the last decade. People have to understand that not party politics is important in this case, but that it's IAF and the Indian aviation industry, that suffers a great loss, if we don't get the 126 fighters and the MMRCA tender. If we buy 18 or 36, off the shelf is only a side note, welcomed but not important, but the benefits for IAF and the industry is the reason why we were ready to pay so much![/QUOTE]
@ Sancho : notwithstanding the tardy progress by HAL, the LCA mk2 will be inducted into the IAF. The problem was ToT for engine as Kaveri failed miserably, With the US agreeing to help India in critical fields of defence, the ToT for GE-F414 has been agreed to for mk2. The problem was the reconfiguration of mk2 to accommodate the bigger (and better) engine than GE-F404 which is integrated into the mk1.
I have no doubt that the MK2 will come sooner or later, but the speculations about 200 or more in numbers, simply doesn't hold it's own, when you keep the production time line in mind! That's where my concern is, because as much as we all love to see 200 LCAs being produced, it simply would be far too late for IAF to induct so many and because of the much changed threat potential, it also would be far too less to make IAF capable for the future.
Some members here knows, that I am all in favour for an indigenous single engine fighter in high numbers for IAF's future, but as AMCA not as LCA!
Keep producing LCA only because we can, would be the same mistake we did with Jaguars, which we kept popping out of the production lines till 2008, while their operational importance is already gone today. Therefor producing LCA beyond 2025, when it's operational importance is reduced by far, simply makes no sense.
Btw, I highly doubt that ToT of the engine had any importance, since we only get the assembly line to India, not a real licence production line if I remember correctly and sharing critical techs is the key problem with the US in every single licence production tender (LUH, ATGM, NMUH, MMRCA), not to mention the denial of consultancy or even off the shelf techs throughout the whole LCA development.
I still see NLCA as the main problem for the MK2 development, since most of the MK2 is developed according to the requirements of the navy for NLCA. That also can be seen in the recent brochures, where it's evident that NLCA needed far more changes to be useful, than the IAF MK2 version, which is far closer to the MK1.
If the naval requirements would not be included, we might had seen the MK2 with the EJ 200 engine, 3D TVC and the 0.5m extention of the airframe to include some more fuel tanks and avionics. That would had given IAF a better engine, more ToT for the industry and the MK2 might already be in prototype stage today.
A second production line will solve the delays. An airforce don't always need a world beating aircraft for air policing duties LCA is more than perfect for replacing MIG 21 duties ,period.
A second production line would only be set up when the MK2 is developed and for the MK2 production only, which still does not start before 2020 as it seems. We would get the 4 x MK2 squads a bit faster, but to reach 200 we still would need to produce them beyond 2025. So why would you waste a 2nd production line by then for LCA, instead of speeding up FGFA production instead? Or why not focus on developing AMCA till 2025 and start the production from the start with 2 production lines? Both alternatives would be better than keep a 4.5th gen light class fighter in production, in a time when the threats have changed.
And as always, LCA needs to be compared with other 4th to 4.5th gen light class fighter and the threat potential of India. It's not enough to say that it's small, has a single engine and is cost-effective, because none of this will make LCA superior to J10Bs.
I really hope that 200 LCA number is actually, totally and entirely and factually true and not just LCA as air-frame, but its engine, avionics and weapons all be locally produced by India in India using Indian tech!
And its not a troll.. I really want India to fly a local machine. For God sake I am not asking for a moon!
We will see around 200 LCAs for sure, but for IAF and IN, since we already have orders for around 180 fighters now. If we will see 200 LCAs in IAF, however is questionable.
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