RBT's Defense Blog

          F-35 Vs.  NGAD Concept  Indian Air Force/IAF is happy flying 3rd Gen, 4th Gen, and 4.5++ Gen fighters like Mig-29/29K, Rafale/Rafale M, Su-30 MKI, Jaguar, and Mirage 2000. Most of these will still keep flying till 2035 and 2040 when the world is already looking forward to the 6th Gen fighter like NGAD (USA), Tempest (UK), and Mig-41 (Russia) and these will be launched around the same time as 2035 to 2040. IAF as yet is still trying to get its hands on a 5th Gen fighter. Its homegrown effort the AMCA will reportedly be a 5.5 Gen fighter. In all likelihood, the first AMCA TD will come out only by 2035, a time when the world would have probably already seen the launch of 6th Gen fighters like the NGAD (USA), and Tempest (UK). Mig-41 (Russia) is more likely to emerge by 2040. IAF is aware it's really falling behind in the race, so had attempted to get hands-on Su-57 (Russia) customized as FGFA, but that plan didn’t materialize. IAF must realize that it has already missed

  In 2020, I had published an opinion piece on www.idrw.org - (UAE Mirage 2000, Last Chance for India to Grab These Magnificent Jets), below is the piece yet again along with my latest additions to why India should still only go for UAE Mirage 2000, or not at all. Also, why Mirage 2000 has actually turned out to be a tale of missed chances; be it bulk buy, production, and Mirage 4000. ----------------------------------------------xxxx---------------------------------------------------- 2020 - { UAE Mirage 2000, Last Chance for India to Grab These Magnificent Jets ) Around late 2019 there were reports that the  UAE Air Force  which operates the 2 nd  most number of  Mirage 2000 jets  after France was planning to sell around 24 to 36 fighter jets to the  Iraqi Air Force.  The reports also said that the UAE wanted to provide Iraq with these jets to be stationed inside or near the Kurdistan region after refurbishing the jets to the latest model. This may be a deterrence against  Turkey.  W