 MiG - 35  F - 16  Sukhoi - 30 |
Most of the visitors and onlookers of the Aero India 2007 air show, including Indian Air Force officers,are very impressed by the Russian jets Sukhoi-30 and MiG-35, despite the hype generated by Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Group who flew in F-16 and F/A-18 planes.
Aeroindianews.com spoke to several IAF officers. Most of them felt that Su-30 and MiG-35 were technologically very sound and that their performance in the air show has also been very impressive.
“ Sukhoi-30’s avionics, load capabilities and maneuvering skills are indeed very good”, an IAF Officer said.
Wing Commander B.S.Reddy of IAF said that the air display of MiG-35 is very good. “I personally feel that MiG35 was the best among all the other aircraft”, he said.
Commander T.V. Sunil of the Indian Navy said that he too found the MiG-35 very capable.
There were some takers for Russian jets other than Su-30 and MiG-35 as well. Flight Lt Binu was all praises for MiG-29. “It is one of my personal favorites. Also, the spare parts of this jet are easily available and since we have such good defence relations with Russia, so that has never been a problem for MiG”, she said. She also found the Gripen aircraft technologically very sound.“Though Gripen is very cheap, they are not marketing themselves very well”, she added.
Another IAF Lady officer said that Russian planes are better than the American ones, even though Ratan Tata’s flight had brought the F-16 and F-18 in news.
“Pakistan already has American planes like F-16 and F-18, so why do we need them?”, she commented
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