Posted on 07/29/2025 6:02:45 AM PDT by whyilovetexas111
As India retires its last legendary MiG-21 fighters, its air force is shrinking to a historic low of just 29 squadrons, falling dangerously behind a rapidly expanding China. To counter this, New Delhi faces a critical and long-delayed decision for its next 5th-generation fighter. The choice is a high-stakes geopolitical dilemma: the combat-proven but expensive American F-35, or Russia’s Su-57, which offers local production but is seen as a “huge bet” on a “dying” and unreliable defense industry.
European or American are really the only choices to be made.
There’s an old saying:
Always buy the best and you’ll never be dissatisfied with it...............
I really wish that people would stop using the horrible NATO reporting names given to Russian technology...SU-57 “Felon”, SS-18 “Satan”...many people probably never realize that the Russians don’t use these names...it’s pure propaganda.
The Firearm Blog used to post articles about India’s firearm procurement, and it’s insane. Pick a region of the world to buy your guns from, and stick with it.
Something tells me we should support China more. It would be like a tariff vs. India. Think it over.
India has been moving increasingly towards a strong preference for local production. That can probably be arranged with Russian products. It’s very unlikely that can be done with American f-35.
As important, is the long-term costs and maintenance contracts. Russia will also have an advantage with those.
India has also made a decision to rely more heavily on its strategic nuclear capabilities which cost a great deal less than the tactical aspects of fighter aircraft.
“ Mixed Reputation in Reliability: While praised for its rugged design, the MiG-21’s reliability varied by operator. In India, it earned the grim nicknames “Flying Coffin” and “Widow Maker” due to a high crash rate—over 400 of 874 MiG-21s were lost in accidents, killing over 200 pilots and 40 civilians. These losses were attributed to design limitations, aging airframes, poor maintenance, and its use as a trainer despite being a high-performance interceptor”
-Grok
Viet Nam:
“ U.S. kill ratio advantage of 5.5:1”
-Grok
Middle East Conflicts: In the Six-Day War (1967), Yom Kippur War (1973), and other Arab-Israeli conflicts, MiG-21s flown by Egyptian and Syrian forces suffered heavy losses against Israeli aircraft. Israel claimed 245 kills against MiG-21s from 1966 to 1982, largely due to superior Israeli pilot training and tactics. In the 1970 War of Attrition, Soviet-flown MiG-21s downed 13 Israeli aircraft but lost five in engagements like Operation Rimon 20.
-Grok
“Legendary” alright.
Bekka Valley, 1982
IAF 86
Syria 0
“””””I really wish that people would stop using the horrible NATO reporting names given to Russian technology...SU-57 “Felon”, SS-18 “Satan”...many people probably never realize that the Russians don’t use these names...it’s pure propaganda.””””””
Is this why (below) our side makes up our own names for our enemy’s weapons?
“I appreciate not everyone is going to be happy and their ultimate job is to find words that are distinct and can be distinguished on radio communications, and not sound like other words that need to be used including the names of friendly types as well”
Mig21 not a plane for rookies.
“India has its 5th-generation project, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, but it is likely a decade away from entering production.”
from what i’ve been reading, all of India’s domestic major weapons projects are ALWAYS a decade away from entering production ...
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