Indian Air Force: News & Discussions

[FalconSlayers]

How many of these IAF wants to operate?

3 of these, which I don't know is good enough or not. I think Navy should've had got one.

 

[randombully]

Question is how are Japanese and Australian forces managing every thing. Its not a joke to maintain a very sophisticated Stealthy platform, with Peak performance of Stealthy coatings, degradation of RAM skin, evolving everyday into a fully integrated networked platform with regular updates. What SATCOM modifications were done by Japanese. What have they done in C2 centre to keep up to the advancement that keeps coming with their platforms everyday wrt to Mission planning and tactics.

PAF will not be able to do it in 15 years even if it survives disintegration, so this J35 is more or less for Jahil Awam as a lolipop. For a well integrated, multilayered Airdefence system with a fully functional BMD system like India - only weak spot is something like Op Spiderweb run by internal front. This 5th Generation warfare tactics is gonna be a hollow bubble just like HQ9 and will be a tight slap if they try some funny adventure. B

If someone has a article by the Jap/Aus air-veterans of respective forces in English. Do share it
Regards

I would be more alarmed if these Napak inbreed actually invested similar amounts of money/loans in a dense, layered and networked airdefense net given they Don't have any geographical strategic depth than to use it to buy few no. Of shiny new toys.

Op sindoor proved these inbreeds can't protect their airfields from us, this j35 and kj500 will be prime target for us while on ground.

 

[INDIAFIRST]

These stories are coming up now...
How we successfully destroyed HAL...
2 min shots of MARUT....story

[YOUTUBE]
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sxcHKqIdw4A%5B/YOUTUBE%5D

 

[Corvus Splendens]

How many of these IAF wants to operate?

We need at least 10 of these. Ideally 15-16 to cover two fronts.

 

[FalconSlayers]

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/procurement-of-97-upgraded-tejas-mk-1a-jets-from-hal-likely-to-begin-in-fy27-govt-official-13101435.html

Clickbait, "procurement plan from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), is likely to begin only in financial year 2026–27 (FY27), a senior government official said."So the plan is supposed to begin next year

Deal signing in 2030, first aircraft 2033 if GE doesn't fuckup engine supplies (which it will) and 2040 all aircrafts delivered most likely.

We need at least 10 of these. Ideally 15-16 to cover two fronts.

More than that, especially for IN if it has to operate as a Blue Water Navy. It sucks they still don't have a dedicated AEW&C for carrier ops which can be launched from Andaman and Nicobar islands and still rely on heliborne AEW&C systems.

 

[sunnyv]

Bro

We need at least 10 of these. Ideally 15-16 to cover two fronts.

Bro are u going to fight world war to operate 15-16. US and UK both have retired their such platforms JSTARs and ASTOR. They are now more into Satellite based ISR. Last time use was in Ukraine 3 year's back.
Navy would prefer more p8I. These are definitely going to IAF for a complete battlefield picture and damage assessment.

 

[redpanda]

Bro

Bro are u going to fight world war to operate 15-16. US and UK both have retired their such platforms JSTARs and ASTOR. They are now more into Satellite based ISR. Last time use was in Ukraine 3 year's back.
Navy would prefer more p8I. These are definitely going to IAF for a complete battlefield picture and damage assessment.

Well we are surrounded by some troublesome neighbours. Fighting all of them simultaneously would be same as fighting a mini ww.

 

[sunnyv]

Well we are surrounded by some troublesome neighbours. Fighting all of them simultaneously would be same as fighting a mini ww.

3-4 would be good enough. These are also costly and vulnerable assets. What we need is multiple LEO satellites - Economical and one can keep 24 hours monitoring.

 

[FalconSlayers]

Bro

Bro are u going to fight world war to operate 15-16. US and UK both have retired their such platforms JSTARs and ASTOR. They are now more into Satellite based ISR. Last time use was in Ukraine 3 year's back.
Navy would prefer more p8I. These are definitely going to IAF for a complete battlefield picture and damage assessment.

Because UK had no need to operate them anymore. They anyways don't have any threats as such and hence spend more on Navy, which again is in a sorry state.

Just for context, the final mission of the ASTOR of Royal Airforce was near Kaliningrad and Belarus. Unless UK wants to fight Russia directly, it made little sense for them to even operate them as their military is now unaffordable for them to maintain.

Which is why UK focussed more on Naval "ISTAR" platform like the P8 Poseidon, which even we were using during the India-China standoff in 2020 over Ladakh, but then again, it is a maritime platform with likely limited surface capability which is why IAF is going for ISTAR and not some custom terrain version of P8 which would brinig commonality of platform with the Navy.

 

[Corvus Splendens]

Bro are u going to fight world war to operate 15-16.

Yes.

In a full on slugfest with china/pork, satellite jamming will be widespread. Having this many birds allow us to cover a massive battle area from Skardu to Bhutan and the north-eastern fringe frontiers, while having them fly sorties in rotations. Ensuring 24/7 uptime, with drones compensating in darker pockets of coverage. 15 birds seem a lot, but only half of them will be in the air at any given time, during an extended campaign. US and UK don't have to fight at, or near home with their neighbours. UK outsourced it's security to US. And US itself has no fear of getting invaded anytime soon. And they still maintain multi-spectrum ISR capabilities through long range high-tech drones and other platforms. Their satelities are so numerous they don't have to worry about a 60-70% jamming scenario. We neither have the geographical luxury nor the bracing/breathing time these two countries will get.​

 

[Ajatshatru]

>Buy F-35
>Deliveries start in 2035 because of backlog and ((( supply chain issues ))) exclusive to India apparently
>T&C includes you can't use it without prior intimation of US
>Pakis also know this
>Plane remains Hangar Queen

Well atleast this will prevent rudali Endians from weeping about $786 billion lost with a Rafale shootdown.
It will be nice to see them only at air shows and republic day flypast, not lobbing their AIM-420 at Paki Madarsas or Fighterjets because Uncle Sam won't allow that

I understand that Chinese weapons are low quality, they even fall apart, nowhere near Western Counterparts. However, that’s not how military acquisitions should be planned. If an adversary possesses a fifth-generation fighter jet—regardless of whether it’s genuinely capable or just for show—India must also field a fifth-generation fighter in response. Underestimating an enemy, even one as economically and militarily weak as Pakistan, is a strategic mistake. History has shown us that complacency is dangerous—Israel underestimated Hamas, and the consequences were devastating.

 

[randombully]

Bro

Bro are u going to fight world war to operate 15-16. US and UK both have retired their such platforms JSTARs and ASTOR. They are now more into Satellite based ISR. Last time use was in Ukraine 3 year's back.
Navy would prefer more p8I. These are definitely going to IAF for a complete battlefield picture and damage assessment.

Kinda wrong.
US is creating RQ-180 flying wing stealth drone for ISR, SAR,ELNIT,SIGNIT, relay node function(basicallywhat our istar will do, they will not be just istar, but like any other modern systems Multi-spectrum jets) , which according to some estimates is the size of its latest b21 bomber.
US is also doing pod based approach fitting its RQ-4 global hawk and mq-9 reaper drone with pod for different modes like maritime surveillance( we do to with mq9 we bought), and SAR and ISR payload too.

US still continues to use E11a( relay node and battlefield management, US is planning to order more) and rc-135w( Signit, ELnit).


So the so called "ISTAR" platform we are buying, ISTAR will just be one of its function( which US plans to fulfill using stealth rq-180 drone), and just like US, we will also be using drones( mq-9 we aere buying) and our sats to also do ground based SAR ISR.
P8 posiden can also somewhat do SAR ISR role.

The "ISTAR" platforms we are buying will also be signit, ELNIT, airborne command and control/battlefield management, relay node( US uses e-135w and e11a for all these except SAR ISR)

So 15-16 of these, definitely a good idea to buy them.

 

[Ajatshatru]

A Russian Su35 has been downed in Ukraine by some Surface to air missile, Lessons for India

View: https://youtu.be/kOFb3vFMTSc?si=yjAcbtkAVrdedJ0C

 

[shade2]

Question is how are Japanese and Australian forces managing every thing. Its not a joke to maintain a very sophisticated Stealthy platform, with Peak performance of Stealthy coatings, degradation of RAM skin, evolving everyday into a fully integrated networked platform with regular updates. What SATCOM modifications were done by Japanese. What have they done in C2 centre to keep up to the advancement that keeps coming with their platforms everyday wrt to Mission planning and tactics.

PAF will not be able to do it in 15 years even if it survives disintegration, so this J35 is more or less for Jahil Awam as a lolipop. For a well integrated, multilayered Airdefence system with a fully functional BMD system like India - only weak spot is something like Op Spiderweb run by internal front. This 5th Generation warfare tactics is gonna be a hollow bubble just like HQ9 and will be a tight slap if they try some funny adventure. B

If someone has a article by the Jap/Aus air-veterans of respective forces in English. Do share it
Regards

Both are US vassals, they have sem2sem US equipment more or less.
Japanese for the purposes of lollipops for their domestic dhandhos have a few custom platforms, for e.g instead of the P-8 Poseidon they have some sem2sem equivalent from Kawasaki, but rest assured this all can be networked with their US gear.

There is a dalla on twitter who goes by @elmihiro, he deepthroats everything US, but even he opposes F-35 procurement since it is a "networked system" and we don't have the rest of the US pieces to make it effective.

ofc this dalla prolly wants a bulk purchase of F-15EX, E-7 AWACS and Patriot PAC-3s also, even though dalali it would make sense.

 

[shade2]

IAF to get Rs 10,000 crore indigenous I-STAR spy planes to help in precision strikes against enemy ground targets

This should be a much bigger priority along with AEW&CS and EW aicrafts than F-35/Su-57 importkhori

View: https://x.com/EconomicTimes/status/1931731750801064379
Read more At:

https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/iaf-to-get-rs-10000-crore-indigenous-i-star-spy-planes-to-help-in-precision-strikes-against-enemy-ground-targets20250608201017/

Per Article it says the vendors would be either Boeing or Bombardier.
Assuming this is a business jet base aircraft, what's stopping them from going with an Embraer or Dassault plane?
These bombardier ones come prepared with all wiring and airframe mods for the camera, satcom and SAR electronics?

Bombardier is Cancuck
Boeing & Gulfstream are Amerishart

https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/iaf-to-get-rs-10000-crore-indigenous-i-star-spy-planes-to-help-in-precision-strikes-against-enemy-ground-targets20250608201017/

Per above ANI article all electronics going in to do the ISTAR are completely indigenous developed by DRDO CABS

 

[FalconSlayers]

Both are US vassals, they have sem2sem US equipment more or less.
Japanese for the purposes of lollipops for their domestic dhandhos have a few custom platforms, for e.g instead of the P-8 Poseidon they have some sem2sem equivalent from Kawasaki, but rest assured this all can be networked with their US gear.

There is a dalla on twitter who goes by @elmihiro, he deepthroats everything US, but even he opposes F-35 procurement since it is a "networked system" and we don't have the rest of the US pieces to make it effective.

ofc this dalla prolly wants a bulk purchase of F-15EX, E-7 AWACS and Patriot PAC-3s also, even though dalali it would make sense.

Even the Japanese despite having a decent gas turbine ecosystem are likely forced to use American gas turbines in their Naval warships and Aircrafts if not for industrial use. Again, I might be wrong on the "forced" part but this does seem likely given the Japanese assets I've read about.

We should maintain distance from the yankees with atleast a 10 feet pole when it comes to offensive platforms, you will never know when they will disable it or halt supplies for it's spares. Which is why in the long term India will have to build own medium and large transport aircraft ecosystem so that we don't have to import C-17s, P8 Poseidons, C-130Js, other than that, Apache gunships and Predator drones.

 

[shade2]

Even the Japanese despite having a decent gas turbine ecosystem are likely forced to use American gas turbines in their Naval warships and Aircrafts if not for industrial use. Again, I might be wrong on the "forced" part but this does seem likely given the Japanese assets I've read about.

We should maintain distance from the yankees with atleast a 10 feet pole when it comes to offensive platforms, you will never know when they will disable it or halt supplies for it's spares. Which is why in the long term India will have to build own medium and large transport aircraft ecosystem so that we don't have to import C-17s, P8 Poseidons, C-130Js, other than that, Apache gunships and Predator drones.

Japanese and Krauts i'm sure are in the Gas Turbine supplier ecosystem and can surely roll their own if unshackled from Uncle Sam's servitude.
They have existing JVs for the same with their WW2 victors.

However most of the stuff going into Japanese equipment is only by their domestic dhandhos.
They build some jet engines by IHI/Kawasaki/Mitsubishi but most are for comedy purposes like Trainers, and ofc they cannot sell these engines because muh naan-wairento konsutitoosan desu.

Truly sad state of affairs especially for marine gas turbines, atleast for jet engines the froggies are still in the game

 

[shade2]

I understand that Chinese weapons are low quality, they even fall apart, nowhere near Western Counterparts. However, that’s not how military acquisitions should be planned. If an adversary possesses a fifth-generation fighter jet—regardless of whether it’s genuinely capable or just for show—India must also field a fifth-generation fighter in response. Underestimating an enemy, even one as economically and militarily weak as Pakistan, is a strategic mistake. History has shown us that complacency is dangerous—Israel underestimated Hamas, and the consequences were devastating.

That is true for what they hawk to the Pakis from what we have seen in Op Sindoor and for good reason.
Paki first and foremost is the US's bitch, if the Chongs give the actual good shit or even standard export quality cut down maal it is still a risk, Pakis will let US exfarts ((( have a look ))) at Chinese platforms.

As for what the Chinese themselves use it shouldn't be underestimated, they are building up to take on the Amerisharts over Taiwan and win, if you are shitting yourselves over 5th gen Wunderwaffe better do it over their 600 J-20s and 800 J-35A in the future, not over some measly 40 planes that will be so cut down, perhaps even Junk Fighter 17 would be a better fighter jet

If the Chongs saw us as that big of a threat, and Paki as that loyal of an ally, rest assured it wouldn't be like 26 J-10s but 200 instead, and not 40 J-35s but 100 instead, they have the industrial capacity and with their economy and tax base such Soviet style daan-dharam wouldn't hurt them, so before shivering ask yourself why don't they do this

 

[shade2]

View: https://x.com/ReviewVayu/status/1931970011129676142

Lets hope the jet vendor chosen has a best selling model which will be in production 15 years in the future also
Other wise with a measly requirement of 3 planes this will endup like the Netra and it's now out of production Embraer base airframe

 

[FalconSlayers]

Lets hope the jet vendor chosen has a best selling model which will be in production 15 years in the future also
Other wise with a measly requirement of 3 planes this will endup like the Netra and it's now out of production Embraer base airframe

MoD clowns have this "order in small batches so that we can get better ones in each new batch we order over buying the same thing in large numbers" and hence abysmal order numbers for everything, from armoured vehicles to aircrafts to warships.