Well, sorry, I think you missed my point.
When someone has a gun to your head, its kind of stupid to p!$$ them off.
When that happened, not too many people here got upset. We KNEW the reason that they were almost COMPELLED to do it.
The CCCP was breathing down India’s neck at that time. India needed a diplomatic break.
If we could dig into the archives, we may even find that it was OUR OWN state department that recommended the changed stencils. (just my opinion, no facts do I have)
But hey, that was years ago, and I’m not concerned with it now. What I do like is that India has turned out decisively pro West.
And don’t think for a moment that Russia and China haven’t noticed.
India will support us if we totally abandon Pakistan. That is something the US is not fully prepared to do. As long the US has military ties/aid to Pakistan, India will remain coy to US relations.
My guess is that India is finding out the quality control of Russian planes leaves much to be desired. That could drive the Indian Air Force to increase its buy of the Dassault Rafale from 126 to as many as 220 planes as a substitute for the failed Russian design.