In fact, the Indian Air Force discovered the problems with the Su-30MKI as early as ten years ago.

Troublesome to use, frequent failures, difficult maintenance, expensive maintenance, and extremely expensive maintenance, Russian after-sales service is often not in place.

For example, back then, just because of the quality of the vector nozzle, hundreds of Su-30MKI were put on the nest.

Of course, Russia cannot be entirely blamed either.

To a large extent, it is also India's responsibility, namely Hindustan Aeronautics, which has suffered from the fact that almost all of the Su-30MKIs maintained by it have gone wrong, and there have even been serious scandals involving the use of scrapped and refurbished engines to pass off as new.

However, the biggest problem is that the maintenance cost is too expensive.

Take the engines, for example, the AL-31 has a service life of only 2000 hours, so one Su-30MKI needs at least six engines.

Just to purchase these six engines, it will cost tens of millions of dollars.

In addition, fuel consumption is a huge issue.

After a high-intensity training exercise and about 3 hours in the air, a Su-30MKI will burn about 8 tons of aviation kerosene.

If it is a single-engine medium fighter, it is about 3 tons.

According to the statistics done by the Indian Air Force, the Su-30MKI burns about $100,000 for every hour of flight, and billions of dollars are spent on 300 Su-30MKI every year.

You know, that's less than 100 hours per aircraft per year.

If the normal intensity of use, that is, 200 to 300 hours per year per aircraft, then these fighters alone can burn down the budget of the Indian Air Force.

To put it bluntly, the Indian Air Force simply cannot afford to raise heavy fighters.

It's not that the budget of the Indian Air Force is insufficient, but for India, which has no industrial base, everything has to be imported, so everything is very expensive.

As a result, the Indian Air Force began to move closer to medium fighters.

In that year, the Indian Prime Minister went to France and bought 36 Rafale for more than $8 billion.

For a long time, these "Rafale" were the absolute workhorses of the Indian Air Force, and one could even say the pillars, with a status far above the Su-30MKI.

Why?

The 36 Rafale planes that were bought back were divided into two groups, all of which were deployed in the direction of the threat facing China, and were used by the Indian Air Force as a sharp weapon against the Huaxia Air Force.

It's just that these "Rafale" are just too expensive.

It's not that French fighters are bad, it's just that they are so expensive that India simply can't afford them.

You know, according to the original plan, India intends to purchase more than 100 Rafale to replace a large number of Mig fighters that are about to reach service life.

If the price is negotiated, India will really buy back more than 100 fighters, and there will be no such thing as purchasing American fighters.

It's a pity that the French don't do business, or they think too highly of themselves.

Of course, this is also about India, which wants both the lowest price and the best service, which the French clearly cannot accept.

In the end, only 36 were purchased.

The question is, the Su-30MKI really can't afford to raise, so what to do?

As a result, the Indians chose and chose the F-16, which has been eliminated by the United States and is being sold all over the world.

This kind of fighter, which has been backward and is about to be eliminated, was repackaged by the Americans, and sold to India as a tall and advanced fighter, and it was also sold at an unimaginably high price, and even the production line was disposed of to India.

As a result, 150 F-16E/F became the absolute workhorse of the Indian Air Force.

Of course, India has paid close to $20 billion for this.

Is this a good deal?

Obviously, in the eyes of Indians, it is a very good deal.

In any case, the F-16E/F is a genuine three-and-a-half-generation, and all the performance is not under the "Rafale", and in some aspects it is better, especially the maintenance and use cost is much lower than the "Rafale", and the reliability of the equipment and service life for decades is sufficiently guaranteed.

Then, the unit price of just over 100 million is naturally cheap.

What's more, India has also obtained the coveted production line, which can be assembled and produced in the country, and after-sales maintenance can also be carried out in the country.

From this point of view, it is definitely much better than the "Rafale" with a unit price of more than 200 million.

The question is, what is the value of such a fighter?

Perhaps the greatest value, if anything, would be to force the Pakistan Air Force to withdraw dozens of F-16C/Ds in favor of Huaxia's JF-20s.

Otherwise, it's not worth mentioning.

Is 150 F-16E/F a lot?

Apparently not much.

Let's not forget that the Pakistan Air Force acquired 120 JF-20s in three years and is ready to purchase 200.

The F-16E/F is three and a half generations, and the JF-20 is also three and a half generations, and they are both single-engine high-push medium fighters, and the performance of the two is in between.

In addition, Pakistan also received an assembly line for the JF-20.

What India has obtained is actually an assembly line, that is, most of the parts for the production of F-16E/F, especially core components such as engines, also need to be imported.

From the point of view of supply channels, Pakistan can get the full support of Huaxia, and there is no need to worry about the production and maintenance of the JF-20 at any time.

What about India?

Obviously, the United States may not sell F-110 engines to India at any time.

In addition, is the F-16E/F advanced?

Again, there is a question mark.

Why?

The F-16E/F sold by the United States to India is actually a typical multi-role fighter, and its main value is to carry out ground strike missions.

In terms of system configuration, these F-16E/F also focus on ground strike.

Of course, the F-16E/F certainly has good air supremacy, but it may not be considered powerful, at least not much better than the JF-20.

In fact, there is basically no gap between the two in terms of air supremacy.

Why?

In terms of the vital fire control radar, the two are actually on the same level, and the JF-20 of Pakistan is slightly better, that is, Huaxia has opened up the full functions of the fire control radar without making any reservations, and the United States is obviously not going to open the full functions of the radar to India.

You know, you only need to make some restrictions on the fire control software, and the performance of the radar can be greatly reduced.

All in all, these 150 F-16E/F are indeed the absolute main force of the Indian Air Force, but they have no obvious advantages, let alone allow the Indian Air Force to gain absolute superiority.

It can be seen that compared with the Pakistan Air Force, the Indian Air Force actually only has a numerical advantage.

It's just that this is only in the face of the Pakistani Air Force.

If Huaxia is taken into account, even if it is only necessary to guard against Huaxia, then there will not be many fighters that India can use in the west and also against the Pakistan Air Force, so this kind of numerical advantage that the Indian Air Force has does not actually exist.

Without qualitative superiority and without quantitative superiority, how can the Indian Air Force dominate the skies of the South Asian subcontinent?