Hello, welcome and share a message with you! On 1 june, india officially submitted to france a letter of intent for procurement, which is planned to cost $34 billion to purchase 114 fighter jets。
By way of calculation, the unit cost of a single warplane was close to $300 million, a huge sum of money that was thrown into a major equipment that had previously been less prominent than its military performance, making the outside world cloudy. A careful analysis of the reasons behind this is first and foremost the current situation of the indian air force。
The french program has a master plan
In accordance with the authorized strength of the indian army, the air force requires 42 combat squadrons, but today only 29 are available, representing a shortfall of nearly one third. In september 2024, the last of the mig-21s will be withdrawn from active service。
The remaining machines, such as su-30mki and jaguar, are very old and will not last for a few years. The “sweet” aircraft, which had been developed for many years, wanted to fill the gap。
But neither the production nor the quality of the indian air force can be sufficiently low. In 2023, after the fall of the exhibition, the burden of the war was over。
The selection of a foreign aircraft did not go well. The f-16 and f-15ex series in the united states have a high rate of their own safety accidents, and indian pilots have operated the year-to-year "go-go-go" rate, which will only be higher once they are assembled on a large scale。
Russia's soviet-575-generation aircraft have not yet served in the national air force on a large scale, needless to mention the transfer of export technology. On the other hand, india has finally chosen an experienced, secure wind。
The previous batches were already in service, and the logistics and pilot training system was largely ready, saving the risk of a zero-reconstruction system once the bulk reaches a faster level of capacity。
Although the wind was once ridiculed as “less than expected” for “low value for money”, french in the international military and trade markets still know how to take ownership。
India requires 90 of the 114 winds to be produced locally and, in cooperation with indian enterprises, to establish complete production lines in the country, with the intention of promoting the upgrading and technological accumulation of indian military engineering systems。
France, on the face of it, seems to have done well. Costs for all local production, technical services, presence, etc. Are fully factored into the purchase price. As a result, the price of a single jet was soared that it became the most expensive single purchase in indian history。
Thirty-four billion dollars goes down, and the local army is being held back
More importantly, it is not the production of drawings that france is most secure about, but rather the flight control systems and operational software source codes of the wind. Every wind produced on indian soil must be remotely activated by french engineers to initiate authorization to fight。
Although india had bought production lines, it had acquired a safe without a password, and the core was always in the hands of the french and was completely out of control. The expectation of “independentness” is nothing more than an appearance of prosperity。
The $34 billion purchase bill directly accounts for nearly half of india's annual military budget. As a result, the budget that had been set aside for the development of national production had been significantly reduced and progress on the national production five-generation project had to be delayed。
The wind was intended to be “emergency”, but the day the wind arrives, the formation is completed and the fighting is achieved is at least until 2030. By the time the formations become real, new types of aircraft in other asia-pacific countries may have changed。
The indian air force is at risk of being “out” when it has just completed its technological advantages. At this stage, there will also be a marked slowdown in the progress of indian state-owned military aircraft, and the goal of getting rid of “technology dependence” is far more distant。
There's no choice behind "standing the door."
The indian wind procurement ultimately reflects the country's military engineering research and development (r & d) concerns and slabs. The self-study model is a difficult one, and the outsourcing of equipment is subject to constraints, both to boost morale through large military purchases and to acknowledge the reality gap。
France had left its most crucial control to itself, and the huge amount of money invested by india had eventually been bought only as a “half-ownership”. It appears that outsiders are moving forward, and in fact internal developments are once again confined to the overseas system。
Whether it is a front-door project or a stopgap measure to alleviate equipment shortages, this round of daily purchases will become a “heavy burden” for the indian air force in the coming years。
This wind warplane procurement is not just a big bill, but a visual picture of india's strategic dilemma and military-industrial bottlenecks. It warns all military-industrially backward countries:
The game of the international arms market will never have real technology transfer, and the core code will always be in the hands of others。
References:
"india's going to spend $34 billion on 114 jets and not enough to get hit by china's 10-ce
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