HAL gets Rs2,400 cr IAF deal to upgrade Jaguar fighter jets

[tigershark]

Is this the route India should went or would it have been better to spend the money else where?  I did a quick look at what they have and I think they should have went with upgrading their Mirage 2000s sooner because it would have gave them more options overall platform wise.  I guess it's a money thing since the Jaguar's are local produced HAL can carry out the deep upgrades themselves I just can't see it happening quickly. 

A link to a article I found on this topic
http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/22233349/HAL-gets-Rs2400-cr-IAF-deal-t.html 

[Webmaster]

Cheap to run, relatively easy to maintain, and quite capable. These are young airframes compared to the ones the RAF retired last year, which let's not forget was an early retirement questioned by many. And with those Agave radar / AShM equipped Jaguars dedicated to the maritime attack role, the type is set to remain in the IAF for some time to come anyway. So why not fit the ground attackers with new avionics? Doing what they do best, only better, for some more years. It's not the biggest investment in the world of upgrades, LOL, and I have more faith in HAL upgrading the Jaguar again than going at it alone for some Russian bird.

All capable fighter jets including the Mirage 2000 will be busy securing air dominance over the battlefield and air defence in an Indian war scenario whether it's China or Pakistan, the capable fighterbombers will be busy bombing strategic targets, you need jets like the Jaguar then to go down and dirty and stop the enemy ground forces in their track or offer close air support to friendlies and then they even still need a light fighter such as the MiG-21 for point defence of strategic assets. This total war scenario calls for a very diverse fleet of aircraft, unless you have enough precision-striking multi-rolers, which the IAF does not have yet. Swing-role capability of modern fighters is great, but that doesn't mean you can be everywhere at the same time.

Anyone else? It's always me and nonpilot alone that dare to touch the IAF topics?

Jaguar must be the safest bet they made in a long time.

[iluveagles]

Well, what other aircraft would have served the same purpose and been a better buy for them? Seriously, the US isn't selling them aircraft, they have Su-27s, the Jaguar is a fairly capable multi role aircraft. The Tornado is the only other aircraft I can really think of that would be comparable as far as Western aircraft go.