But if that were true then surely the Jf-17 is just as outdated and irrelevant these days?
It is slowly but surely becoming irrelevant to the future battlefield that Pakistan faces.
The JF-17 is there because India chooses to persist with its Mig-29s and MKIs..
When that changes and the FGFA and AMCA come into the picture.. it is irrelevant or at least in obsolescence. That doesnt mean that it or the Tejas arent good effective fighters that can do their job well. The JF-17 will stay relevant because of what it brings to the overall PAF composition is important.. however the same cannot be said for Tejas.
It has to do with the battlefield as well.. the PAF for all its other commitments has its primary focus on the eastern front.. a battlefield whose dynamics do affect the importance of size and radar range... simply because most of the assets are next door. So some of the studies of ACEVAL and AIMVAL are valid here.
On the other hand, the IAF has two battlefields.. one to its west.. the other north. And it in the Northern battlefield that the LCA will become totally irrelevant. Moreover, it's irrelevance will have more to do with logistics, force usefulness and the overall importance of it a resource will diminish. Simply because the IAF already had good effective assets that can carry out its job with fairly similar costs over time. With the Rafale, Mig-29UPG ..there is little need for the LCA other than to prop up a local defense industry.
But it's not possible, because AMCA is not just a twin engine 4th gen fighter, which would had made a re-design and re-consideration of the project easier and possible in a useful timeframe, but it's a NG fighter. Apart of the sheer amount of parts that needs to be developed completely new, in most fields the required knowledge is not existent today and was meant to be available through further LCA upgrades only. Not to mention that the 188 LCAs on order, are meant to be available by 2022, a timeframe where not even the first AMCA squadron should be available, which then again means IAF and IN must procure more Rafales and Mig 29Ks, which I wouldn't mind at all but is expensive and since too many of my countrymen just like the MoD focuses too much on indigenisation for pride reasons, cancelling LCA is not very likely, or useful.
However the main point of the whole project is not to add teeth to IAF, but to set up a basic aero industry in India and that's why it is so important to get LCA done.
I believe then that the Govt of India is taking a very wrong approach in establishing an Aero Industry with regards to the economic and financial environment that India has. Frankly.. for a **** poor sanctioned country like Pakistan setting up a nationalized Aero industry makes sense because there are very little places it can procure and find the technology needed to make an aircraft.
On the other hand, India is booming, its private sector is booming and capitalism is being taken in by strides.
There are over five financial and industry giants in the Indian Private sector who were already willing to be involved in the MMRCA project and are quite capable of investing in the technology and infrastructure to set up a private manufacturing consortium.
Not only can they assist HAL in accelerating it's technology program , they can also speed up the manufacturing process that might have the AMCA on the table before 2018. Think of it this way.. there is nothing going on India's western front for the time being.. at this point, why settle for less by 2015 when more can be had three years later.
There will be NO loss in capability by that time a the MKI's, Mig-29s ,M2Ks and then the Rafale intake will more than make up for it.
The LCA may be procured as such.. but it can all be delegated to a test program or at best 2-3 sq kept on the Burmese and BD borders.
China is struggling to make a 4th gen fighter engine on their own. India has almost given up. Both these countries, as well as Russia and Europe are setting up production lines for 4++ gen fighters as we speak. Yes, China will have a few squadrons of stealth fighters, and so will we (FGFA). But they will also have plenty of non stealth fighters, so will we.
If one was to apply the same logic to Pakistan, they could ask why they are about to induct hundreds of JF-17s, when India is moving on to 5th gen with PAKFA. The answer to which would be that IAF is not moving entirely to 5th gen, neither is anybody else bar the USA.
We need LCAs, and we need them in numbers. No other way to have 39-42 squadrons, unless somebody is suggesting the purchase of a cheap, light fighter from abroad.
Here is the thing with that, you already have enough ...VERY capable 4th gen fighter filling up your ranks that can and perform all the roles envisioned for the LCA as cost effectively(as odd as that seems but include lifecycle,procurement and induction costs) as the Tejas.
The basic issue seems to be the need for an indigenous capability but that does not mean one does it for the heck of it.
There's something that's taught in basic Finance.. which is a projects Net Present Value.. which if above zero usually means go ahead with an investment or project.
In terms of the Tejas.. the Net Benefit value doesn't seem to be as much as it was envisioned.
And the alternatives based on the private sector look a lot more attractive.
