“Save your rupees, Inda, buy a few Sturmoviks, Corsairs, Skyraiders, or Warthogs, upgrade the radar, comm, and processing on whatever you’re flying now, and pick up a few gross of RPV Predator types.”
Umm...what? Not only are some of those going to be far pricier than their usefulness (think what WWII vintage aircraft go for and the cost of maintenance), but none of those (even the Warthogs, a fine CAS aircraft if there ever was one) fulfill the roles India is looking at.
IIRC, India’s looking to replace their lightweight aircraft (think MiG-21) since their indigenous LCA fighter program is taking a long time to bear fruit. All of those aircraft you listed wouldn’t last long in a fight with any Pakistani or Chicom fighter.
India’s not looking at COIN aircraft if that’s what you’re thinking (I’m not sure what you’re thinking). Even if they were, the aircraft you listed are far from practical (except the A-10). Heck, even Eritrea’s air force would tear even 126 of any of those aircraft you listed to shreds.
Don’t take me too seriously, C-XI-P, please. Was just trying, again, to make the point that, except for close support, the human-pilot-carrying attack craft’s days are numbered. Pilots weigh too much and are both too fragile and too vulnerable. The knights of the air of the future may soon find themselves faring no better against swarms of cheap drones than the “Flower of French Knighthood” did against the longbowmen at Agincourt.