Very true there is no quality issue with Tejas, there is not a single crash till date ...
IAF have to fill the gap very very soon in another 2 - 3 years time ... Tejas mk1a is one of the option and Tejas MWF also ...
Tejas mk1A + Tejas MWF + AMCA is the way forward for IAF ...
But HAL is not yet able to scale up the production as expected ~ 24 aircraft / year to 36 aircraft / year ... still it is not good to fill the numbers...
We need high impact fighter jets such as SU 30 MKI & Rafale in good numbers [ ~ 400 no's ] to take on both China & Pakistan at same time ... We want them in very quick time of 2 - 3 years ...
I have a gut feeling that there will be a showdown with Pakistan / China in another 2 - 3 years ... Is IAF is prepared for it ?
400 Of Rafale and Su-30mki isnt gonna happen.That basically translates to 7 squadrons(126 jets) of Rafale and we currently have 2 squadrons on order(36jets).
36 is the final number that we have and any more of imports will cripple the budget for a long time.Already the budget has depressed the purchasing power of all three services.
Tejas is the only viable solution to all our problems.Short term solution is Tejas mk1a,mid term is Mk2 MWF and long term is AMCA.A single Tejas mk1a,if ordered in good numbers say 140-150 from current 83 will reduce the price of jet thanks to economies of scale and it can be produced at 24 per year from 2024 when MK1A comes online.Thats enough time frame to build up Tejas mk1a and Mk2 will be around the corner by the time Mk1a orders will be completed(around 2029-2030).
Other thing is operating rafale is gonna be extremely expensive.It costs over 20000 USD per hour to operate and with small fleet and specific upgrades i expect IAF rafales to cost around 40000-50000 USD per hour to operate compared to Sub 5000 USD for tejas mk1a and for Mk2 it shouldnt be more than 10000 USD per hour inflation adjusted.So a single rafale will cost us 20 million USD per year to operate and 2 squadrons 720 million USD per year.For that much we can purchase 12 Tejas at present price.And Rafale will be paid in FOREX but for the most part tejas can be paid in Rupee.
Integrating local weapons could also prove to be problematic with rafale depends if french will share the source codes or not but wont be a problem with tejas.SFDR and Astra Mk-1 and MK2 will do the job for most part in future.Our stocks of Derby python should be expiring in few years if not used up already.
Plus with dual Ejector racks if made available for Tejas Mk1a will make it a great multi role aircraft.Able to carry 4 BVRAAM 2 WVRAAM 2 500kg PGM 1 centerline tank and 1 towed EW.Thats really good.Over 500km of combat range will put most of Paki targets within range.
At this point IAF should simply order 12 NETRA Awacs.Shouldnt cost more than 2 billion USD and 12 Airbus A330 MRTT(though i genuinely believe it needs 24) for about 4 billion and 150 Tejas mk1a and go ahead with a comprehensive upgrade for Su-30mki.