Someone got too choosy, and acquisitions dont come overnight. It takes time to look at options, negotiate strings etc. At one point it got close to the Rafale and Eurofighter but the strings(or the price in the Rafale's case as reportedly the EF was costing less than the Rafale to the PAF..odd) ruled them out in 2003-4. The J-10 was looked at but then the J-10B was seen and it was decided to wait, and focus on Air Defense upgrades.. after all; if not for Kamra...the PAF would have had 8 AWACS systems of which 4 were really really good pieces of tech. There are also smaller local thingamachiks going on that usually slip under the radar unless you know where to look.
As for the PAF, from what I gathered and without over sentimental or emotive views.. It is still capable of an offensive attack and at this stage it can still deal a blow through capabilities that are still not on papers. A lot of it is paranoia because each force generates intelligence on one another to see what is what and each plays a game of bluff in terms of their cards. That doesn't mean it wont be eventually walked over by its primary threat in the east, but its still capable of dealing enough damage to certain key assets that would have set-backs equivalent of a decade.
That being said, as its primary threat upgrades and the PAF barely keeps up; this set-back giving capability will reduce to 5 to 2 to zero over the next coming years. If you ask a PAF officer today, what is opinion of the IAF is(when they are not in fighter pilot mode or otherwise)..they will(and do) say that "we can take them on and bruise them well.. but there is no longer going to be a war with India..the chances are slim to zero", and that should tell you plainly what the dynamics between the two nations is now.
Here we go nishan_101, AZADPAKISTAN and now Black Eagle 90 except Nishan and Black Eagle 90 are much more in common.
