OT, any idea when the MMRCA decision will be out?
The Mica has a lower maximum range than the AMRAAM and costs more, but it’s about as advanced. It’s IR variant could in theory be used as a stealthy medium range weapon which doesn’t rely on radar. As far as the Rafale is concerned, it would essentially be a stopgap with the Meteor expected after 2015.
It’s hard to say when the MMRCA decision expected though articles put it as by the 3rd week of this month.
Most web discussions I have seen on the MICA (as well as virtually every other single weapon) are mostly baseless and speculative. Most of them do not even attempt to use logic, and the few that try to add some logical sense into their posts are (sadly - although there is no viable alternative really) using information that is in the public space and may/may not be entirely accurate. I've seen several threads in other forums that go on for pages where they compare various types of missiles, the MICA included, and it is always amazing to see the 'information' given. Most of it is made up, some of it is simply Wiki regurgitation, and the few posts that make some sense are still based on a medley of logic and white-paper sources. It is next to impossible to get 100% legitimate and actual information because there will be no defense manufacturer and/or country that will avail all the pertinent specifications of a particular weapons systems.
Yet on the web one will find threads that go on for pages discussing the capabilities of a Virginia Class submarine versus those of an Astute Class submarine. Details that 99.999999% of people in the world do not have, and the very few that have the data for the Virginia SSN do not have for the Astute SSN (and vice-versa), and the extreme few that may have real data for both SSNs are a handful ...and none of them would log onto a military forum and spill the beans. Yet one can easily find threads (do a google search) showing how one submarine's anechoic coatings, or sonar, or weapons management system, etc is 'better' than that of the other submarine. Other examples include how the PakFa is cr@p based on a picture (as if its developers were absolutely clueless about a particular that is totally evident to the blogospehere). Or why the Chinese SD-10 is 'better' than the AMRAAM (some Chinese forums make all sorts of silly claims - I was reading one a while back that claimed the new Chinese SSN is 'better' than the Virginia/Seawolf classes). Pure nonsense. Even on FR I have seen that, such as posts by a certain chap who left last year who claimed the S-300 is cr@p (yet for some reason American stealth technology was developed, at high cost, to defeat this type of 'cr@ppy' threat, and it is this same type of technology that makes Chinese airspace, as an example, inhospitable to any legacy fighters). Yet the guy would say it was cr@p because the Israeli airforce destroyed some Syrian SAMs that dated back to the Cold War.
The only military forum that comes close to sense is one named after a famous Western single-engined fighter jet and ends in '.net' (I am not sure what FR's rules are for mentioning other sites), where there tends to be a greater ratio of logic to cr@p, but even there a lot of the information is white-paper and while there are SOME people who post there who MAY know (there was one chap who was a F-22 pilot who got into some trouble for saying more than he should have) chances are they will not say anything at all.
Anyways, what is known about the MICA is that it is a very advanced missile, that it has an Active radar-guided version as well as an imaging-Infra-Red version with a highly advanced seeker, is very capable both in beyond-visual range as well as within-visual range, that it has a shorter range than the AMRAAM but at the same time a (far) longer range than any IR missile (apart from some special types of Russian IR missiles that are basically conversions of long-burn radar-guided missiles to give them an IR seeker, and the MICA is more advanced than those), and it has good maneuverability with high off-bore sight capability and 360 degrees launch envelope (i.e. can engage a target immediately behind the aircraft). It can also be used as a surface-to-air missile. That is about it, and that is data from MBDA. Anything more than that and either a) the person is posting cr@p/making stuff up/speculating; or b) someone is saying more than should be said on the matter (e.g. releasing information that should not be released).
As for India's purchase of the missile ...India has received one of the best missiles in the world (not the best, but one of), and a missile that will enable it to match up against anything its two main foes may possess. Easily. Also, as Sukhoi30MKI posted, the IR variant of the MICA can also be used as a stealthy medium-range A2A missile (since it is not emitting), and with the Rafale the missile's seeker has also been used to gather information even (as an additional sensor).
Bottom line - those that do not 'highly regard' the MICA are people posting on the web. On the other hand, the missile has been bought, using real money, by 8 countries. I think countries spending real money on a system outweigh comments from people saying this or that 'sucks.' India has made a good decision, and will receive a capable missile.