Indian Air Force: News & Discussions

[maximus777]

We can debate about the quality of the planes or the feasibility of the timelines, but it will be a potent new dimension to PAF. So, Op Sindoor was the perfect opportunity to cause irreparable damages to PAF which we blew.

China Fast-Tracks J-35A Stealth Jets to Pakistan, First Units to Fly by Q1 2026​

 

[Spitfire IX]

The Project Delays were more than 40 Years!)

Initiated in 1983, first flight only in 2001.

Full operational clearance in 2019.

As of 2024, less than 40 aircraft delivered — far short of IAF needs.
Performance Shortfalls

Early Tejas variants had limitations in range, payload, and radar capabilities.

Navy rejected the naval version due to poor power-to-weight ratio (underpowered with GE-F404 engine).
Low Production Rates
HAL’s production line couldn’t scale. Initially 8 aircraft/year — painfully slow.

Only recently they are targeting 16 year. Depending on provisions of all components delivery.

Lack of Indigenous Components

Engine (GE), radar (Elta), and several avionics systems were imported.

Shows ADA’s struggle with developing core technologies in-house

Some people would accuse you pf being brutally realistic. Reality is not always too welcome.

 

[Nutcracker]

We can debate about the quality of the planes or the feasibility of the timelines, but it will be a potent new dimension to PAF. So, Op Sindoor was the perfect opportunity to cause irreparable damages to PAF which we blew.

China Fast-Tracks J-35A Stealth Jets to Pakistan, First Units to Fly by Q1 2026​

Porkies ain't getting J35, they still are Amreeki bitch. J35 will be Chink carrier fleet's spearhead. under no circumstance prokies will get even a watered-down version of it. Chyenaese Temu tier ADS should've woken up porkies.
Chyenaese have been unable to show an empty Catapult operation (not even deadweight launch) from their much-feared POOjian till date. Only blurry fake pics, how they taught their Porky child.

 

[silentassassin265]

Chongs will probably throw few j35 as bheek to pork, question is when

 

[username unkown]

Chongs will probably throw few j35 as bheek to pork, question is when

No chong won't give anything for free most likely porks will get it from eating grass with imf loan and chinease soft loan and porks are supposed to be still paying for j 10 which they got 20-40 numbers and there aur defence system are reduced to almost nothing it would be interesting to see on what porks spend there most of resources on ADS or air vectors

 

[ArjunMK1A]

Not yet ordered. Nirbhay, SMART, LRAShM etc are still "under trials".

In fact QRSAM is sitting for orders in last 3-4 years. Its trials completed around 2021. It was supposed to replace OSA and other older Soviet weapons. Even BDL said, they are ready to start production.

I think LRASHM, SMART will come under Navy gambit. Trusting Navy, these missile will be inducted once enough trials done.

Meanwhile common sense dictates we should have gone with Block variants similar to Tomahawk. But India being India started the process of chasing the unicorn. The current Nirbhay program is trying to match Block 4 & 5 version.

Should have went with Block 1 Version with 800KM. It is analogous to but cheaper. Block 2 Version should be ITCM with 1500KM followed by LRLACM with even greater range.

Also the joke of doing development trials and user trials on series needs to be stopped. It should be single Development/User trials followed by orders. Chumps at MOD is sitting way too cozy. Some one like George Fernadez needed to bring sense to babus.

 

[darkflame]

The game we played regarding the Su-57 was delusional . We invested millions in a 10B program and claimed half the jet is ours but the performance is poor . Yet we ourselves cannot even get a 4th gen jet off the ground and in any decent numbers (Tejas) in past 40 years. Our ego and pride far exceeds our budget and capabilities and thus we ended up with less while paying far more (rafales). If we had decided to stick with su 57, we could actually have a 5th gen jet flying now to compete against pak and Chin.
Reality is gonna bite GOI in the arses eventually. Those token ripoff orders of Chinooks , the Apaches (Not bad helies but expensive as all hell ), Rafales(comes with lots of string attached) won't gonna actually help us,they can't even carry any indian weapons and eventually would face issues with spare parts (happened before) if the west decides to play hard ball on bharat in any future conflict.

 

[liberalredditor]

Chongs will probably throw few j35 as bheek to pork, question is when

i suspect that after pl15 incident, chongs will give these pigs their crown jewel tech, although an upgraded j10 is possible
then we will bomb their airbase

 

[Ajatshatru]

The game we played regarding the Su-57 was delusional . We invested millions in a 10B program and claimed half the jet is ours but the performance is poor . Yet we ourselves cannot even get a 4th gen jet off the ground and in any decent numbers (Tejas) in past 40 years. Our ego and pride far exceeds our budget and capabilities and thus we ended up with less while paying far more (rafales). If we had decided to stick with su 57, we could actually have a 5th gen jet flying now to compete against pak and Chin.
Reality is gonna bite GOI in the arses eventually. Those token ripoff orders of Chinooks , the Apaches (Not bad helies but expensive as all hell ), Rafales(comes with lots of string attached) won't gonna actually help us,they can't even carry any indian weapons and eventually would face issues with spare parts (happened before) if the west decides to play hard ball on bharat in any future conflict.

We should be happy that the Tejas is now under mass production. Once Indian Air Force starts flying it in large numbers, it will naturally provide valuable experience for developing next-generation technologies for the AMCA. Additionally, Tejas Mk2 is on the way.

At this stage, acquiring a substantial number of 4th-generation jets is more important than immediately fielding a 5th-generation fighter. Apart from this, the GHATAK UCAV, a stealth drone powered by the indigenous Kaveri engine, is also in development.

 

[Ajatshatru]

View: https://youtu.be/r9FGImZqkxM?si=S2k5ZcD347ErVNwD

 

[liberalredditor]

We should be happy that the Tejas is now under mass production. Once Indian Air Force starts flying it in large numbers, it will naturally provide valuable experience for developing next-generation technologies for the AMCA. Additionally, Tejas Mk2 is on the way.

At this stage, acquiring a substantial number of 4th-generation jets is more important than immediately fielding a 5th-generation fighter. Apart from this, the GHATAK UCAV, a stealth drone powered by the indigenous Kaveri engine, is also in development.

mass production? now? bhaijaan we have only received 1 engine till now that too in april and the first jet is not yet delivered. hal said that all the testing and certification would get completed on cat b engines and then when new engines arrive, they would snap it on and deliver within weeks

and still the mk1a is no where visible for delivery, astra mk1 integration pending till now

i hope adani chacha buys hal, but then he would start doing screwdrivery of elbit and rafael subsytems

 

[Ajatshatru]

mass production? now? bhaijaan we have only received 1 engine till now that too in april and the first jet is not yet delivered. hal said that all the testing and certification would get completed on cat b engines and then when new engines arrive, they would snap it on and deliver within weeks

and still the mk1a is no where visible for delivery, astra mk1 integration pending till now

i hope adani chacha buys hal, but then he would start doing screwdrivery of elbit and rafael subsytems

Yeah, but I don’t think the supply of F404 engines will be delayed any further. The GHATAK UCAV being powered by the indigenous Kaveri engine is a major achievement. However, there’s very little public information available about the GHATAK UCAV, and I’m not sure why.

 

[darkflame]

i hope adani chacha buys hal, but then he would start doing screwdrivery of elbit and rafael subsytems

what else adani could do it's not like drdo has designed local alternatives of these screwdrivered joos maals.we know india is not so rich country where it's top institutes produce it coolies and very little research takes place ,drdo and goi keeps talking about made in India initiative, yet wey can't produce even design or manufacturer our own small arms, ATGMS,MANPADS, quality ammo or large size kamikaze drones all very basic stuff we waste time on projects that run decades late and produce a sub standard equipment. buying rights to produce equipment, for any business will always seem far better use of money in such conditions, it's cheaper, quicker, and the end user ends up with a piece of equipment that is fit for purpose in a reasonable timeframe.

 

[Ajatshatru]

No chance. The operational freedom, the wide access to the aircraft that we demand, will never be agreed to by the yanks right now. Media takes potshots with headlines like "F35 for India" every now and then. Even the F-18SH was never considered, and was probably invited to negotiate the prices on Rafale-Ms. We're more likely to license the Su-57, if that is even a serious consideration. I think it'll float around in OSINT handles / media after Virupaaksha and the related avionics are cleared for the Su-30 upgrade package. Might even explain why the MKI fleet isn't being expanded despite past few conflicts highlighting the merit of heavy platforms. If anything IAF is probably wanting a stealthier Su-30 right about now, post OP Sindoor.


With enough willpower all of these can get fast-tracked forward. I think if ADA and HAL really wanted to, they could fly Mk2 by this year. Ghatak's success is tied to the Dry Kaveri, but I think it's already being tested with an F404 to validate systems. Warrior is a toss up right now, the watered down variant shown recently is a downgrade in terms of LO and payload. And the HTFE-25 would need to be sorted out for the larger, stealthier variant to fly.​

I don’t think GHATAK UCAV is being tested with F404

 

[liberalredditor]

Yeah, but I don’t think the supply of F404 engines will be delayed any further. The GHATAK UCAV being powered by the indigenous Kaveri engine is a major achievement. However, there’s very little public information available about the GHATAK UCAV, and I’m not sure why.

ccs approval hasnt been received till now, but expect the prototype to be ready by 2028, and production by 2032-33
engine is ready, dry section was delivered last year only by godrej, got tested on the testbeds which we have here in bangalodu, some tests are pending which need to be done in foreignpur, dry kde will get certified by 2027 q1 or q2
but the main problem is that now ade is in lead of ghatak, expect further delays as it is our favourite lab

 

[redpanda]

mass production? now? bhaijaan we have only received 1 engine till now that too in april and the first jet is not yet delivered. hal said that all the testing and certification would get completed on cat b engines and then when new engines arrive, they would snap it on and deliver within weeks

and still the mk1a is no where visible for delivery, astra mk1 integration pending till now

i hope adani chacha buys hal, but then he would start doing screwdrivery of elbit and rafael subsytems

Tbh Hal also does screw drivergiri. R&D is done by DRDO. So yeah Adani chacha can essentially replace HAL that is very much possible though he will charge premium for the risk he has to take. Adani chacha already does screw driver giri for some systems developed by DRDO..

It's not like private players don't wanna enter into the line of work of HAL, they want more money than the government wants to give. The government being kanjoos refuses to acknowledge their arguments against L1 system.

One example of DRDOxAdani:

DRDO, Adani unveil advanced vehicle-mounted counter-drone system | Bengaluru News - The Times of India

Bengaluru: DRDO and Adani Defence & Aerospace jointly unveiled country's first vehicle-mounted counter-drone system at the airshow.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[liberalredditor]

Tbh Hal also does screw drivergiri. R&D is done by DRDO. So yeah Adani chacha can essentially replace HAL that is very much possible though he will charge premium for the risk he has to take. Adani chacha already does screw driver giri for some systems developed by DRDO..

It's not like private players don't wanna enter into the line of work of HAL, they want more money than the government wants to give. The government being kanjoos refuses to acknowledge their arguments against L1 system.

One example of DRDOxAdani:

DRDO, Adani unveil advanced vehicle-mounted counter-drone system | Bengaluru News - The Times of India

Bengaluru: DRDO and Adani Defence & Aerospace jointly unveiled country's first vehicle-mounted counter-drone system at the airshow.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

i meant to say that atleast hal has taken up some r&d work like htfe, htse, cats, their centuries delayed trainers, but adani chacha despite having lakhs of crores in profit and cash cannot throw away even a thousand crore for r&d, pls give engineers from iit and bits salary and see how we race up to the west

for example- radars and other semiconductors/chips/SoC/electronics? are academia is pretty good right now in this space, iiith iitm iitk bits pilani and all have solids proffs and labs with studets who have interest, pls fund their masters in india or phoren or take them for r&d, give them 25-30 lpa for btech and 35-40 lpa for mtech and just see what happens in 5 years

same for other spaces too, softwares too, we dont have our own os despite making so many engineers, no one wants to work on it, no one wants to take risks, no one has made a big SaaS like SAP, oracle, adobe, AWS, azure, salesforce, etc
delivery in 4 mins - 100 million dollars pre seed funding at 50 billion dollar valuation - boom

 

[FalconSlayers]

Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha: As part of the CNR, S-400 is completely in IAF IACCS control.

 

[redpanda]

i meant to say that atleast hal has taken up some r&d work like htfe, htse, cats, their centuries delayed trainers, but adani chacha despite having lakhs of crores in profit and cash cannot throw away even a thousand crore for r&d, pls give engineers from iit and bits salary and see how we race up to the west

for example- radars and other semiconductors/chips/SoC/electronics? are academia is pretty good right now in this space, iiith iitm iitk bits pilani and all have solids proffs and labs with studets who have interest, pls fund their masters in india or phoren or take them for r&d, give them 25-30 lpa for btech and 35-40 lpa for mtech and just see what happens in 5 years

same for other spaces too, softwares too, we dont have our own os despite making so many engineers, no one wants to work on it, no one wants to take risks, no one has made a big SaaS like SAP, oracle, adobe, AWS, azure, salesforce, etc
delivery in 4 mins - 100 million dollars pre seed funding at 50 billion dollar valuation - boom

Even China had to push it dhando class towards R&D through various corporatist policies. There are good chunk of research papers on that. I think the govt has to do something to push our dhando class towards that. Our Dhando class by default tends to be penny pincher unless they get incentivised or forced to innovate. Eliminating the fear of loss by assuring something to dhando class in a pure give and take manner. Like fund R&D in universities to get tax cuts or something. Spend X amount in house R&D to get this benefit or something. Sounds rather socialist but I meant in a more corporatist way. PLI is a good example of such policy, although it needs a lot of improvement. We need a Research Linked Initiative aka RLI with proper guidlines for the companies.