My dear brothers
@Caprxl @Trailer23 @kursed
Was going through this whole thread just to find all sorts of misconceptions and delusions of our fellow members as well as poor thinking in some terms !!
Some observations and my take
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GRIPPEN : Grippen is and never was a feasible and productive solution when Thunder program is already ON and only an infant might think of such !!! Just the western “TAG” mindset leads many to take any over-hyped platforms superior to what we COULD POSSIBLY do ourselves sooner and that sooner is definitely in terms of Block 3 as well as better in terms of Block 4.
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Rafale And China : India is not and will never go to war with China, write that and teach that to your generations. Rafales were always meant for Pakistan and india can never try to come half closer to China’s military might. Expect rafales to be stationed away from Pakistan but close to us during heated times.
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Aerial ONLY counter’ stigma :
Air warfare and counter is a highly complex scenario. SAMs, EW warfare and special crafts, All have their roles. Days are over when aircraft for aircraft mentality actually mattered. PAF as well as PN have proved themselves quite excellent in this area and expect them to build up even more in this. India oversees the potential of this capability and only cares for numbers
UNTIL NOW
- RAFALE WITHOUT METEOR = JFT B3
Nope, wrong call !!! First of, we don’t know the specs of B3 and specifically EW Capabilities. Rafale is not just a BVR threat, it is a highly potent EW threat as well as WVR threat. One can oversee US, China, Russia, Italian capabilities but French are not ordinary like all of them, they know what they do and they are best at that !!! Never underestimate the French capabilities and SPECTRA EW is not some small boy in a park.
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Procurements
Expect much more interest in EW equipments as well as highly capable SAMs and Links.
Fighters, Block 3 should be in numbers nothing less than 100 with a plan for Block 4 and further totaling a thunder fleet to 500+.
Second approach should be to as well procure Block 70 and V upgrades as you can get them very much and will be a direct answer to Rafale. This isn’t impossible and i think this is in works already.
Least probable scenario involves inevitable threat of conflict with PAF GOING off the shelf for J-10Cs 3-4 Squadrons