I don't foresee any drastic changes in the geo political environment in the near term, for now, Pakistan will continue to fly American and Chinese fighters while India stay with Russian ones, at least till the (still not inducted0 5th gens are close to retiring.
Well that would be your opinion,
an opinion that can be easily refuted using the argument of Russia selling the most key component of a fighter sorted to become PAF's backbone... Economic cooperation with Pakistan aside,
the fact that Russia would resort to arm pulling of India, using Pakistan ... is something that should concern you ... The only difference this time around is ... the once "mild jabs" are actually hitting this time around ... We all know the episode of RD-93 ...
So while you can stick with your opinion of in the shorter term there wont be any significant change, however the fact is while the argument maybe a little valid with the case of Pak-Russia military relations and certainly it will take time before Pakistan has significant deals from Russia ... but the writing is on the wall though ..
On the other hand Indo-Russian relations have changed ... With India going to the west, screwing the ruskies out of the MMRCA, reducing orders of Pak-FA, the inevitable reality that India has to face is that ... Russia is not the "all weather friend" it once was ... the partnership has transformed from a very strong friendship to the state where Russia and India are "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" -- just that Russia is like "if need be, we'll also twist your arms or get you by the balls" ...
Why would a Su-35 with Chinese subsystems be a "downgrade"? If anything, the Chinese would slap on a new AESA, next generation EW/ECM systems, etc.
I don't mean that the SU-35 as a fighter platform would be "downgraded" -- the idea which was put forth, which I was quoting was -- to sell the "IDEA" that the platform is downgraded, which would be relatively easy, seeing how the every day lalu, karthick and Virat (Indian version of the Tom, Dick & Harry) view the Chinese equipment as substandard ...
The
Idea was to sell a perception so that Russia doesn't have to face the brunt of the Indian questions on how it is selling its "absolute best" to Pakistan ... China gets in a much more comfortable position as the defense of the investments in CPEC project especially over the waters is beefed up... and the lethality of PAF is increased due to the arrival of a latest strike platform with a huge range and payload on it ... so a "win win win" ....
Why would be buying through the Chinese be any cheaper than doing so from Moscow?
It won't be cheaper ... but looking at the jets of the same class .. Rafale deal of Egypt with the same strength i.e 24 was worth nearly 6 Billion US dollars, the deal for EF-2000 with Oman was worth nearly 2.5 Billion dollars and only involved 12 EF-2000's and 8 Hawks ...
Similar jets of the same class of aircrafts from the west cost alot more ... although the argument could be made for the maintenance costs etc. however ultimately the western counter parts will cost more ... just by the looks of the deals signed ...
The acquisition process of PAF will be guided by its needs .. PN is spending nearly 8 Billion for its modernization .. PAF has already found a cost effective solution to replace its entire old fleet in JFT ...
what PAF needs right now is be vigilant and acquire the second hand MLU'ed falcons (1-2 squadrons would be enough) --- and
sit tight while working on the JFT project. As soon as the JFT block III's first squadron gets in to operational service
that would be the time to go big with a deal of a squadron of a high end platform (SU-35/J-11 etc.) depending on the needs, the geo-political situation and the economic realities that Pakistan has to face ...