Quality is always have an edge over cost effectiveness whoever can afford it. In quality products the servicing and maintenance is always less. A single high end fighter is better then five low end fighters. One F-35 is 2/3 times costlier than F-16 but it can effectively neutralist many F-16 at a time.
thanks for your post Kinetic
I think you didn’t understand my post. I agree with your comment about Quality don’t get me wrong. cost effectiveness doesn’t mean compromising quality either. They are not mutually excusive terms. Eastern products (military& non military) have always been traditionally cheaper than the west but Japanese & Koreans have earned the respect & confidence of the world, while still being cheaper.
Any new platform has to be cost effective to be put in production and fielded otherwise it will remain on paper. In theory quality can be increased to Nth degree but the question is, can that thing be fielded in reality? (hence Americans will still have hornets, F15s, F16s along with F22s for some time in the future).
I don’t want to teach anyone about the operational cost here because most of you know more than I do. But re JF-17 I must remind everyone to look at the main reason PAF went ahead with this project and what this plane was going to replace. As it happens, with the progression in design and production, the finished product met and in some cases exceeded the expectations of PAF which is a happy coincidence. What ever is public knowledge and whatever is not, the JF-17 is a success story and has earned the approval and satisfaction of the people who are going to use it. Our Pilots
most of them have flown American aircrafts in PAF and Middle eastern countries. I am not sure about IAF pilots but trust me PAF pilots are very direct and open when they give their opinion about something. The whole life cycle of this plane went through changes as the requirements of PAF evolved over time and final product was good enough for PAF pilots to say that they would prefer it to their earlier F-16s.
Early availability has nothing to do with aircraft's capability.
it very much does my dear hehe. An air craft that is present “NOW” Can be scrambled to respond to a threat “NOW”. JF-17 has passed the test & approval of our designers & flyers so as far as we are concerned it is very capable for what we designed it for and the best part is, you know what? That’s correct, we have it “NOW”. Its available “NOW”.
You didn't tell how JF-17 has supportability edge over LCA? Every country's own fighter has supportability edge over foreign systems. India produces almost everything of MKI ie the radar as well as the engine doesn't it mean that it has supportability edge over JF-17?
LCA is not the first Indian aircraft and I don't think any Indian govt website will do that.
I agree with your comment but you read me wrong, the supportability comment was not vs. edge against any other plane. It appeared to me that you were dismissing this very important feature (like you are dismissing early availability) to be of any important feature of the plane. It’s been designed to be a multi-role for a reason that I already explained at length in my original post. re LCA as my apologies for confusion, ANTIBODY has clarified well what I said.