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For all the posts above, here are my answers ...
IN wants to have 3 "operational" carriers - now at best only 60% of your carriers are operational at any time, which means to have 3 operational carriers, you need to have 5. IMHO, IN wants to have 4-5 carriers by 2025 so that at any point they will have 3 carriers at sea. Ideally IN should have 1 carrier for Bay of Bengal, 1 carrier for the Arabian Sea and 1 carrier for the Indian Ocean (a catobar for maximum operational range).
As for western naval fighters not offering any more operational range, that is BS - Any CATOBAR fighter (F-18 SH or M-Rafale) carry more fuel and/ or more weapons. It is simply a math - more take-off momentum = more payload - either as fuel, or as weapons or a combination of the two. Don't check up on the wikipedia - those numbers are BS.
The reason India bought Mig-29K is because there was nothing else available as a STOBAR naval aircraft at that time. Also, the Mig-29K is not the best naval fighter there - it is unproven, cannot be used as a CATOBAR fighter and has limited development potential since IN and Russia are the only two nations invested in it, both with plans to replacing them by a 5th gen fighter.
As nrj has mentioned before, 24 (two squadrons) Mig-29Ks are for Gorshky, another 12 (1 squadron) are for the IAC-1 while the rest 10 are for shore based training and combat patrol duty.
IAC-1 will have another 12-16 (1 squadron) of N-LCA mk1.
IAC-2 if CATOBAR will need a CATOBAR enabled fighters (either M-RAFALE or F/A-18 SH). If IAC-2 is still a STOBAR (Ski-jump), then IAC-3 will need it too. For IAC-2 , scheduled to be inducted between 2018 and 2020, no 5th generation fighter is possible. If someone talks about N-AMCA I will laugh my ass off and if they mention N-PAK-FA I will poop in my pant laughing. F-35C will not be produced for a late entrant like India by then (maybe by 2025 for IAC-3 or IAC-4)
As for Why a western fighter? Western nations have a much longer and better record of carriers and CATOBAR launched naval fighters.
Buying a CATOBAR fighter also enables India to develop the CATOBAR abilities itself. If India orders 40 M-Rafales from Dassault, I am pretty sure the French will help India with CATOBAR technology for IAC-2.
IN wants to have 3 "operational" carriers - now at best only 60% of your carriers are operational at any time, which means to have 3 operational carriers, you need to have 5. IMHO, IN wants to have 4-5 carriers by 2025 so that at any point they will have 3 carriers at sea. Ideally IN should have 1 carrier for Bay of Bengal, 1 carrier for the Arabian Sea and 1 carrier for the Indian Ocean (a catobar for maximum operational range).
As for western naval fighters not offering any more operational range, that is BS - Any CATOBAR fighter (F-18 SH or M-Rafale) carry more fuel and/ or more weapons. It is simply a math - more take-off momentum = more payload - either as fuel, or as weapons or a combination of the two. Don't check up on the wikipedia - those numbers are BS.
The reason India bought Mig-29K is because there was nothing else available as a STOBAR naval aircraft at that time. Also, the Mig-29K is not the best naval fighter there - it is unproven, cannot be used as a CATOBAR fighter and has limited development potential since IN and Russia are the only two nations invested in it, both with plans to replacing them by a 5th gen fighter.
As nrj has mentioned before, 24 (two squadrons) Mig-29Ks are for Gorshky, another 12 (1 squadron) are for the IAC-1 while the rest 10 are for shore based training and combat patrol duty.
IAC-1 will have another 12-16 (1 squadron) of N-LCA mk1.
IAC-2 if CATOBAR will need a CATOBAR enabled fighters (either M-RAFALE or F/A-18 SH). If IAC-2 is still a STOBAR (Ski-jump), then IAC-3 will need it too. For IAC-2 , scheduled to be inducted between 2018 and 2020, no 5th generation fighter is possible. If someone talks about N-AMCA I will laugh my ass off and if they mention N-PAK-FA I will poop in my pant laughing. F-35C will not be produced for a late entrant like India by then (maybe by 2025 for IAC-3 or IAC-4)
As for Why a western fighter? Western nations have a much longer and better record of carriers and CATOBAR launched naval fighters.
Buying a CATOBAR fighter also enables India to develop the CATOBAR abilities itself. If India orders 40 M-Rafales from Dassault, I am pretty sure the French will help India with CATOBAR technology for IAC-2.