The closest to Mirage 2000 :
Sancho -
If we take the cost into consideration wlong with diplomacy behind it.
There are below options that come into my mind -
1. F-18 though fits to multirole with a low price, it still will face the axe of mistrust btn US and India, it may not be abt sanctions now, but India not being a signatory of CISMOA, so a stripped down version will be there and mostly the AESA will be affected by this. so less chances for a bargain.
2. EF is lobbying hard for as they know India is their only option to make EF more export friendly as it can reduce the cost iof EF drastically for other countries to opt for it. Some links have also claimed abt teh blue print of the craft and it does look like they will surely go more than extra mile to get this deal. However selection of kaveri has played it down for EF. so if IAF includes EF now, it will have EJ-2000, GE F414, GE 404IN, Rolls royace, RD-33, and S-117 and other different engine types to maintain and repair. and EJ2000 will be the most difficlut as its one of the most advanced and completely new engine to us. But here the factor comes, like I said Navy had an option of AESA but didnt go for it, so it makes me think, a sripped down F-18 has better chance than EF, even if it offers jobs and creates wonder for us.
3. Coming to Rafale, it has only common thing is that IAF uses French avionics, and operates its elder brother Mirage. But they are kind of have the habit to play with prices. Remember it took nearly two years for us to fix the Mirage deal. But IAF will operate them much easier as they have operated Mirage. The French AFAIK havent offered an advanced M-88 like others are pitching for, and mostly if they offer, that will come with a price....So the F-18 comes to pic here, will a stripped F-18 be a better choice than Rafale also. Also keeping it in mind that Snecma and GTRE have still not come to an agreement to jointly develope Kaveri, which hits the fate off Kaveri with Rafale badly, noting that it will also come with a price. Now this cost is seperate from cost of acqquisition of MRCA. There is no sign of India getting into a deal with France for a co-developemnt of M-88-4. Also I will say the Indian PSUs who are pitching hard for defence contracts also will lobby for a contract which wwill give them better and bigger deals. Nevertheless our Babudome will also listen to these PSUs.
4. Now comes Gripen, wwith significantly lower cost, and almost multirole ability, this can be a real game changer. The fear we had of Gripen operating a US enigine, could be managed out by teh recent LCA deal, where Ge has guaranteed TOT, so in case of a sanction we can also maintain and manage the repair ourselves. Now AESA is also not that a big problem for Gripen, now with Metoer, this couldd be a real player, out playing F-18, Rafale and EF, also SAAB is aggressive when it comes TOT and jobs like EF.
What do you think at this moment, I know I like Rafale, but want to keep the personal openion out for the time being as shotlisting will happen soon. Just a check before we hit tha pot.