Indian Air Force News and Discussions ll

[rafale]

thats still an eye-watering number, its clear everything about this deal is unclear, but wow this is an insane deal.

just to contextualise this all, the entire development cost of the Rafale was 25bn eur adjusted for inflation.

then, 20bn for the 280 aircraft for the french air force.

Insanity really, i cant help but wonder if India would have been better off just going the J-16 route and developing new engines for the flankers and continue to build them under license with new avionics and systems etc. Its what i wish the PAF did with the mirage.

India could build the engines and what not.......the reality is even if they wanted to, they couldn't. They simply do not have the industrial depth because if they did, they would have results and not garbage like tejas.

Many people get this wrong, for the longest time Indians survived and impressed the world by bullshitting their way as a economic miracle built purely upon cheap offshoring jobs and products (pharma).

Take those two out, Indian industrial strength is no more than an average developing nation.

India, industrially, is a very hollow nation. It can assemble and co-produce, but nothing of substance is Indian origin.

Not a single of their major combat system is of pure Indian origin. India needs to pay what France demands, because India has no other choice left in the 4.5th gen domain.

 

[rafale]

I don't think the indians can operate a top heavy fighter fleet like the Chinese. The whole point of the MMRCA was for a medium weight fighter. They should have acquired the Mirage 2000 production line when the French offered it to them.

And how would that have helped? They got the license production for the MKIs...........and HAL has been license producing so many jets, yet their air force numbers are absolutely dismal. Production line is good when you have everything horizontal and vertical setup in supply chain. Like the Chinese did.

Even if India did get the M2K production line, it would still depend on bits and systems here and there from the French or other European OEMs.........

 

[hasssanali8998]

The use of word "Reportedly" by himself shows that he has not seen any proof.

also wrong thread , go to the proper one

 

[Assault Rifle]

View attachment 199316also wrong thread , go to the proper one

Nowhere does he say those are internal reports, in fact what he refers to to could be just media reports.

 

[hasssanali8998]

Nowhere does he say those are internal reports, in fact what he refers to to could be just media reports.

what ??
i just showed a screenshot from a vid you sent , he says he saw every report doesnt take a genuis to figure out what the means

but again wrong thread for this
go to india v pakistan

 

[Assault Rifle]

what ??
i just showed a screenshot from a vid you sent , he says he saw every report doesnt take a genuis to figure out what the means

but again wrong thread for this
go to india v pakistan

And here is screenshot confirming the used the word "Reportedly".

 

[hasssanali8998]

And here is screenshot confirming the used the word "Reportedly".

i never claimed he didnt

Nowhere does he say those are internal reports, in fact what he refers to to could be just media reports.

i replied to this brainfart

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

France Refused Source Code — India Still Bought Rafale​

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Rafale is earmarked for nuclear strikes as its ultimate objective. Asking for its source code is too much.....

 

[Corax]

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View attachment 199675
View attachment 199676View attachment 199677

Another bahkt high on bollywood cow dung copium. It's funny how you indians selectively quote that CNN article.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/12/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-ceasefire-intl-hnk

India’s director general of military operations, Ghai, said India approached Islamabad on Wednesday following its initial strikes to “communicate our compulsions to strike at the heart of terror.”

India made a request – which was not specified - that was “brusquely turned down with an intimation that a severe response was inevitable and in the offing,” Ghai told reporters. The Pakistani military said that it was approached by India earlier in the week regarding a ceasefire.

“The Indians requested a ceasefire after the 8th and 9th of May after they started their operation. We told them we will communicate back after our retribution,” Pakistan’s Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said during a news conference on Sunday. After Pakistan’s military operation, “we reached the international interlocutors and we responded to the ceasefire request,” he said.

Even your own military confirms the Pakistani military accounts of what happened. After you received a thrashing with multiple of your jets destroyed, you begged for a ceasefire, but it was rejected.

 

[NeptunesVortex]

India Begins Deep Indigenization Push for AL-31FP Engines Powering Su-30MKI Fleet

India Begins Deep Indigenization Push for AL-31FP Engines Powering Su-30MKI Fleet - AlphaDefense.in

India has started a major effort to increase the indigenous content of the Russian-origin AL-31FP turbofan engines that power the…

alphadefense.in

This is exactly where Aerolloy Technologies matters for HAL’s push to indigenise the AL-31FP engine. They now have VIM (vacuum induction melting), VAR (vacuum arc remelting) and large open die forging in India. That means titanium and superalloy materials for critical engine parts don’t have to be imported anymore. VIM (Vacuum Induction Melting) is used to create the alloy, PAM (Plasma Arc Melting) is used to refine titanium alloys and VAR 400 (Vacuum Arc Remelting) produces ultra-clean metal ingots. On top of that, there’s a precision casting plant for making complex near-net shape parts and now a 4500/5100T open-die forging system has been added.
Put together, this is basically a rare setup where melting, casting, and forging are all available under one roof a combination you don’t see often globally.

For an engine like the AL-31FP, the real challenge is the materials themselves: turbine disks, compressor sections and other high stress parts that face extreme heat, pressure and rotation speeds. These depend heavily on precise alloy chemistry and forging quality. So, HAL can focus on design, integration and final engine build while Aerolloy supplies the high end forged materials and components. That kind of supply chain strength is what actually pushes indigenisation forward.

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[NeptunesVortex]

Hmm... so the Indian Navy is also interested in buying another 31 Rafales on top of the 26 already ordered. That was actually the Indian Navy's original requirement from the start.

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[Yasser76]

It is bizarre now, we are getting reports of IAF "approvals" and "deals" every week but literally no movement on anything.

No signed deals and no fighter deliveries in last 4 years. Unheard of for a large air force.

What is more now is that the obsolesence is stretching towards other aspects of the air force. They seemed to have done a good job on their transport fleet (C-17, C-130J, C-295 etc) but the rest seems like it will soon be unable to be effective

Still flying

100 odd Chetaks/Cheetahs
55 AN-32s

The Phalcons are now old with a 28 year old radar on them, and how much availability do you have with just 3 ancient IL-76 air frames?

Still IAF only has 6 23 year old IL-78s for tanker support? Again,. one has to wonder how many can fly on a given day?

We focus on the aging legacy fleet of Jaguars, SU-30s and MIG-29s but IAF will soon be in a position where it needs to replace all of the above in a few years at the same time. Even with India's defence budget, does not take a genuis to see that the maths does not work out here

 

[Fatman17]

It is bizarre now, we are getting reports of IAF "approvals" and "deals" every week but literally no movement on anything.

No signed deals and no fighter deliveries in last 4 years. Unheard of for a large air force.

What is more now is that the obsolesence is stretching towards other aspects of the air force. They seemed to have done a good job on their transport fleet (C-17, C-130J, C-295 etc) but the rest seems like it will soon be unable to be effective

Still flying

100 odd Chetaks/Cheetahs
55 AN-32s

The Phalcons are now old with a 28 year old radar on them, and how much availability do you have with just 3 ancient IL-76 air frames?

Still IAF only has 6 23 year old IL-78s for tanker support? Again,. one has to wonder how many can fly on a given day?

We focus on the aging legacy fleet of Jaguars, SU-30s and MIG-29s but IAF will soon be in a position where it needs to replace all of the above in a few years at the same time. Even with India's defence budget, does not take a genuis to see that the maths does not work out here

They have a cumbersome supply chain.

 

[Yasser76]

They have a cumbersome supply chain.

Yes, the whole situation will be made worse relying on Russia for certain parts. For sure I think the SU-30MKI fleet which had servicbility levels of just 55% at one point must be in even worse condition as parts get harder to obtain and they get older.

IAF is the only country flying the Jaguar, no one is supporting this plane and they have bought spares to cannablise, but one again has to question if all 6 Sqds can field more then say 10 aircraft each

 

[NeptunesVortex]

The Phalcons are now old with a 28 year old radar on them, and how much availability do you have with just 3 ancient IL-76 air frames?

A single Phalcon can stay on station for nearly 2.5-3 times longer than an Erieye while providing full 360° radar coverage and significantly greater detection range.

That matters because air warfare is about how long that aircraft can remain there controlling the battlespace. Erieyes need to rotate in and out to maintain coverage, a single Phalcon can continue operating over the same period.

In practical terms, 3 Phalcons can generate operational persistence comparable to roughly 8 or 9 Erieye sorties over the same timeframe.

Even IAF smaller Netra AEW&C has demonstrated successful mid air refuelling capability allowing it to remain operational for additional hours when required.