Mirage 2000H, MiG-29UPG, Jaguar DARIN III - Medium Multirole Aircraft of IAF

The BRD upon deep inspection of the airframe, if it has still not completed its flight hours, can extend the life for another year or two.

Anything more will need deeper OEM participation.
I've read reports earlier which said we'd be retiring the first squadron of these birds by 2028-29 or probably 2029-30 which'd be 45 yrs after we've inducted these birds which is why we'd be going in for those additional 21 nos in which case whatever upgrades happen will be X-18 .

In any case I don't see more than a squadron or 21 nos surviving beyond 2035 with the IAF. Hence let's hope whatever upgrades they're planning especially w.r.t extending the life of the airframe if it's feasible should be done post haste .

Incidentally PKS remarked that there were close to 40-50 nos of these MiG-29s in storage & opined that we ought to get them all to make up our depleting squadron strength in 2019-20 when news of planned procurement of these 21 nos report first came up .
 
I've read reports earlier which said we'd be retiring the first squadron of these birds by 2028-29 or probably 2029-30 which'd be 45 yrs after we've inducted these birds which is why we'd be going in for those additional 21 nos in which case whatever upgrades happen will be X-18 .

In any case I don't see more than a squadron or 21 nos surviving beyond 2035 with the IAF. Hence let's hope whatever upgrades they're planning especially w.r.t extending the life of the airframe if it's feasible should be done post haste .

Incidentally PKS remarked that there were close to 40-50 nos of these MiG-29s in storage & opined that we ought to get them all to make up our depleting squadron strength in 2019-20 when news of planned procurement of these 21 nos report first came up .
2032 is the current Out of Service date for Mig29 UPG. From 2032 to 2035 is doable with more judicious use of airframe hours (IAF going down the PAF way).

Instead of spending money on 21 Mig29 kits, get that money to ADA, hire more test pilots and get an extra prototype and get the milestones quicker.
 
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2032 is the current Out of Service date for Mig29 UPG. From 2032 to 2035 is doable with more judicious use of airframe hours (IAF going down the PAF way).

We don't seem to have a choice in the matter. It makes more sense IMO to go in for those 40-50 nos in storage if they have adequate service life in them & upgrade them in collaboration with the Russians with a mix of our & their hardware + software.

Instead of spending money on 21 Mig29 kits, get that money to ADA, hire more test pilots and get an extra prototype and get the milestones quicker.
I honestly think we ought to resign ourselves to receiving the first squadron of the Mk-2s by 2032-33 which is a decade from now .

Assuming the IAF goes in for ~ 150 nos Mk-2 ( frankly I've my doubts if they'd go in for 108 nos too , leave alone the 198 nos being projected around 2019 during the Aero India then ) , the production schedule shouldn't extend beyond 2040 except exports & attrition replacements.

In any case these FA's are delayed & given the leaps in modern air war fighting equipment ,I doubt any 4.5 Gen platform inducted today will see service beyond 25 yrs even in our part of the world. You can stretch that to 30 yrs but even that T/L leave aside anything beyond that, is frankly stupid & inadvisable .
 
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I-D-R-W the go to website of everybody here for all matters defense reporting that IAF on the verge of dropping it's requirement of 21 MiG-29s. No news whatsoever on the 12 MKIs though.
 
2032 is the current Out of Service date for Mig29 UPG. From 2032 to 2035 is doable with more judicious use of airframe hours (IAF going down the PAF way).

Instead of spending money on 21 Mig29 kits, get that money to ADA, hire more test pilots and get an extra prototype and get the milestones quicker.

The 21 Mig-29s are worth it as long as the avionics are as capable as what's going on the LCA. With just 5-6k crores, we can counter PAF's F-16B52s and J-10Cs in a very short time, much faster than the LCA can.