This outsourcing blunder is of the same magnitude or severe than giving the russians the blue prints to the nuc bomb and the rolls royce engines in the 40's----.
Sir, outsourcing is a genie that has been let out of the bottle. It is a beneficial genie --- it goes and tries to equalize everything --- all of us who accept it will be dancing to its tunes.
Coming back...
Yes, Pakistan dodged a bullet Indian acquisition of American fighters will have had some of the following consequences for PAF:
- AIM-9X and AMRAAM two battle proven missiles, the ONLY missiles to be tested against real maneuvering supersonic fighters F-4 Phantom and F-16 target drones.
- Pilot training tools such as the 'dome trainer', the dome trainer allows air crews to simulate close in AIM-9X tactics in a 360° virtual reality dome.
- American AESA, with unmatched capability- radar that can ID missiles at 80NM not to mention radar modes our European allies haven't even dreamed of and then there is the ability to use the AESA as a powerful jammer.
- air to ground, air to air, anti-radiation, decoy missiles - munitions for every conceivable battle need, the cheapest most effective weapons available anywhere.
- Software tools such as BLUEMAX (Mission-Threat Analysis),RADGUNS,BRL-CAD & FASTGEN, COVART, AJEM. These tools are part of a comprehensive mission planning suite that can be used to predict and model possible outcomes of aerial action including the likelihood of combat losses.
Like I said before, Pakistan is fortunate India valued fighter agility for air shows over a comprehensive package for real battles.
All the goodies DBC mentions would have been known to us. Yet we chose the European aircrafts. We too will be having enough to counter them in about the same time Pakistan gets them --- if US gives all of them to Pakistan.
In any case they will be the last major tech that Pakistan will get from the US. In 20 years or so anything that US will offer to others will be offered by China --- and Pakistan will get them on favourable terms --- and by than time I am confident that India too will have adequate countermeasures in place --- economic and military.
I do not see Pak-China relationship souring in the long term. Pakistan has to prove itself unworthy of Chinese consideration for the situation to reverse. So no more continuous goodies to Pak from Uncle Sam. As notorious_eagle says --- the Chinese have impressed you guys.
People understand that Clinton and presidents after him had a great empathy for the indian and chinese public---. They truly wanted to do something to make their lives better---and you know what----it is all a matter of timing----you had Clinton and then Bush----and then you had ASHLEY TELLIS-----I have not read anything about Mr tellis just a brief few lines last night---and then I searched and found his picture----I wanted to see the face of the person who made it happen----and I looked and stared at his face for a longtime---as I could not see him talk----that was the only resource to see inside of him----.
Hindustan is fortunate to have people like him to endorse it----anyway going back to rafale----the u s wanted a similiar relationship with india as it had with israel---. What the indians are not realizing it out of shortsightedness is that the u s would not treat it like pakistan when under duress----due to political and financial prowess of india----. Basically india is too big to be politcally strong armed by a vote of sanction by a u s congressman----my feeling is that india didnot look at itself through that looking glass----. I mean to say---it takes time to understand and visualize your place and position in the world when everbody bashed you so recently for being so poor.
It is just like a grown man----whose mother has been saying to him----you are stupid---you are acting like a child---you are no good----start acting like and adult----and that man visualises himself in that form and format that his parent adressed him in.
India the successful---would not have thought in that manner----.
I agree to an extent what you said about the confidence part. I wrote about this in one of my previous posts. I do not think that NAM was what caused us to reject the F-teens. NAM probably needs to be given a new meaning. But there is strength in weakness --- especially if you know that the weakness is going to become strength in due course of time. That is possibly what we bargained for.
In the short term as DBC says, Pak may get the military stuff it so dearly covets but if it gets beyond our comfort level we will remember it --- and we definitely will strike back in due course of time.
We were possibly thought of as the blue-eyed boy --- no longer in the same way. I don't think most of us regret this although short term benefits would have been immense. Look at it in this way --- a lack of such stuff will force us to develop them or get them at greater ToT bargains. Just think --- what is our share in PAKFA --- if this is what we get from the Russians, then what will the US give us immediately? As you say, we will eventually get the tech --- but time is of essence. We have a future in mind for us --- just a tasty lollypop will not do.
When we were in the final stages of getting the NSG waiver, US waited till the very end to see how much concessions we would make. When we finally said that this is all we can offer US swung into action and arm-twisted a couple of countries who took the moral high ground about our Canadian reactor fissile material diversion. This behaviour is that of geopolitical friendship, not otherwise - because they knew that only they could get us through the door. I read this in an article written by a former Indian diplomat --- a neutral guy.
US might think that we betrayed them. I do not blame them. They did do a lot to accommodate us --- according to them. We benefited greatly from this US largesse and continue to benefit. But the mighty 7th fleet was also stopped by the Russians and what happened next in etched on our minds. We cannot forget Russia.
US is smart --- been here done that. It will recalibrate the relationship but both India and US will need to look for ways to take it to the next level. It is imperative for India to reassure US. I would be happy if this hiccup is forgotten. Back in 2000 when we were regarded as no more than a future regional power, US had the future mapped out --- they had the measure of the future geo-political landscape. This is the US we know and admire and are in awe of.
The friendship between US and India will not be as US thought --- for good or bad. We will be the friend that US desires and US will be our friend without which we will be incomplete. This is the only dignified way --- and it is our destiny. This is how nations are built.