It will be interesting to see if India buys strictly on "merit."
It is the most political and caste like of all the democracies in the world, where family and class connections dictate purchases.
If the Brahamans have the caste Mig connections, then it will be a Mig purchase, regardless of "merit."
ut perhaps they will luck out, decide on a genuine defence strategy, and by a fighter that is the best fit.
The Mig is a poor fit. It is also a loss of future functional superiority over potential enemies who will have the Mig, and their suppliers will be able to play them off against each other, in terms of advanced upgrades and weapons upgrades.
Often its not the just the fighter that matters, but all the manipulation that comes with its future.
THe Iranians and Pakis have more future economic resources to trade with the Russians, and so that will put India at a futrure disadvantage in terms of superiority of its flight hardware, unless they plan to do their own evolution.
It will be interesting to see who wins this bid.
What is the “Brahaman” thing all about???If you are referring to the Caste,then it’s Brahmin!!About them influencing decisions,well many ,if not most of the decision makers are not Brahmins.The Air force Chief is a Parsi,the Defence Minister is a Catholic & the Prime Minister is a Sikh.
About connections,well money does count,but how well equipped is Mig to line the right pockets????If this deal was simply about connections & logistics,it would have been signed off long ago-to the French.What’s at work today is a combination of political realignment as well as the need & demand for brand new technology .
The Pakis are highly unlikely to buy Russian fighters for the simple reason that India has & can arm twist Russia.Their military aid packages from Uncle Sam gives them a few F-16s,allowing them to buy lots of Chinese jets.They plan to buy around 120-150 FC-1s & 40 J-10 fighters from them.Don’t think they can afford a Mig-35 or anything-provided they stay as a single nation 10 years from now.
Same more or less,goes for Iran-they are building up ties with the Chinese.The J-10 would make more sense than any Mig for them.
India is much richer than either, and has a far more modern and effective air force. Including many MiG-29s, already. (In fact India’s air force is about as capable as China’s, and light years ahead of Pakistan’s). I don’t see the MiG as a poor fit at all. But it isn’t as superior to Pakistani planes in electronic warfare terms, as the latest European or US equipment.