India’s choice of the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMCA) under its
largest-ever military fighter deal for procuring 126 such planes at an
estimated USD 11 billion is expected to be known by the “end of this
month”.”We are looking to start the commercial negotiations by the end
of this month,” Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said at an event at Indian
Women Press Corps(IWPC) today. Under the Defence Procurement procedure
(DPP), the Ministry holds commercial negotiations with the company
offering the lowest price for the product on offer and meeting the
service requirements. The IAF Chief said if the losing companies don’t
try to “put spokes in the wheel”, the deal would be signed within his
tenure, which ends in July this year.
Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF
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