Unique Indian requirements? And you know those requirements better than IAF? Oh I see. So you are one of those who believes they know IAF's requirements better than IAF. Please tell us more about how many aircraft selection processes you have been part of. We will all benefit from your experience.
And all 4 of them were rejected. Rafale passed the cold start test and it was finally selected. So you are actually supporting IAF's selection process here. Finally showing some brains.
Dude do one thing. Prove this claim. Surge sortie rates of all european fighters are not in public domain so no way you could have gotten this information.
Marut? Sign of moral bankruptcy being shown finally by you. Everyone knows that Marut failed because MOD failed to import a proper engine for the jet. The intended supersonic fighter was never able to breach the sound barrier. But you are like those morons who will ignore all the facts and still to their claim that IAF sabotaged it. Keep going, no one can stop you.
Ok, as you say. We bow before your wisdom.
For interested readers, reasons for IAF's objection to theater commands are also in public domain. People can read them. Basically IAF has said that the amount of equipment needed for theater commands is much greater. So IAF would need much more number of transport, AWACS and refuellers to operate theater commands properly.
EDIT: Since this question needs answering
IAF ordered 20 IOC LCA Mk1 in 2005, which got delivered only in 2019, 14 years later. IAF ordered 20 more FOC LCA Mk1 in 2010, first of which is yet to be delivered 9 years later. Imagine Dassault taking 14 years to deliver Rafale? Would it had been acceptable? No, LCA was given special treatment precisely because it is Indian. The Dhruv program was initiated by IAF and IN. IAF ordered thousands of crores worth of Netra and Akash missiles, despite the fact that both these projects were delayed by years and Akash's capabilities are actually comparable to 30 year old missiles instead of modern ones. The fact is, whatever has been developed, has been ordered.
IAF top brass before manohar parrikar became defence minister did everything in their capacity to finish off tejas., Intentionally or unintentionally is something debatable.
By the end of FSED phase2 itself, Tejas qualified R73 E, with HMDS cueing.
IAF could hv asked ADA to qualify derby, & inducted it straight away, as a pure air to air interceptor
replacing those 100s of obsolete mig21s, rather than insisting on finishing the whole gamut of air to ground roles in totality,
Instead retired chair marshals of IAF were bluffing all kind of stupid stuff on tejas ,
like mig21++ ,
three legged cheetah,
Late Combat Aircraft,
Last chance aircraft, in cohort with import lobby dalals, who double up as defence journos & mil aviation experts in India,
Point to note is these senile gents hv never stepped inside the cockpit of a proper 4.5th gen fly by wire, RSS fighter.
Never managed a lawn mower project in their life,
Never understood the fact that the phased of validating of & Fly by wire software is a time consuming process.
All IAF test pilots who ran the decade long flight testing , consistently rated teja mk1, above mirage in all aspects of close combat agility.
They knew well top speed at service ceiling is an irrelevant concept (ever heard a single french air force gent discrediting rafale because it had lower top speed than mirage2000?)
Test pilots knew even mirage didn't hv the deadly HMDS-R73E CCM & Derby combo.
No serving IAF chief ever contradicted these senile chair marshals in pubic.
Never supported the project by ordering 60 pure air to air tejas versions to replace obsolete migs.
Infact they were all playing with India's defence preparedness & life of young IAF pilots ,
by continuing to let mig21 fly, even after a proven much better tejas has arrived.
Their tom foolery was exposed by PAF retaliatory action after balakot.
If Abhinandhan's capture clips were not on social media,
he wowld hv met the same fate of Capt Saurav Khalia
It was these clips & strong resolve of the modi govt to hit back if he was not released, which secured his release.
Just think if better sense prevailed in 2010, & if IAF had ordered 60 tejasaste pure air to air tejas in 2010 itself aka mk1A type SOP,
PAF would hv eaten humble pea on Operation Swift Retort.Tejas would hv done way better than the migs ,
with its class leading ITR &modern counter measures , it would hv given a much better account of the talent of IAF pilots.
But IAF top brass had other plans,
They kept dreaming on the bank breaking 160 odd MRCA, which they knew no govt had the money to buy,
KEPT changing the goal post fr ADA, delaying tejas induciion,
& Led IAF to a pathetic situation, where half their fleet is flying fossils.
They didn't even get su 30MKI & MIG 29 TO Srinagar base to counter PAF Swift retort, sent Abhi on mig 21,
couldn't establish proper procedure that could hv saved the life of the Mi 17 crew that day.
A miserable failure of leadership.
In any other country a few top officers of air force would hv been sent home by now.
Ok. Past is past.
Cut to the present,
Instead of spending an year over mk1A price,
why they haven't given additional 40 odd tejas mk1 FOC orders.
Don't they know mil aviation is not a road side fast food stall ,
where you can get 5 plates of pizza & 4 plates of burger within half an hour?
Why fool the nation, by claiming we ordered 20 tejas ten years before, but it hasn't been delivered ten years later,etc.
Aircraft production line needs continuous orders fr stabilized production & financial feasibility,
Which set of tier1, tier 2 vendors will keep twiddling their thumbs after setting up a ten fighter per year production capacity ,
& wait fr eons , so that IAF stops writing their endless list of new items to be added to FOC?
Didn't IAF TOP brass knew that 100 S of F35 S are flying in USAF without even IOC?
Didn't they know the gripen A,B, C,D,E route & rafale F1,2,3,4 route of development?
