When an American F-16 pilot asked the Paks this Q. FROM PURELY the PAF point of veiw which do you guys think will be their worst nitemare.......
The Answer:
Definetly the Super Hornet would be a greater threat.
IAF has yet to see the wonders of the US hardware which is on any given day, gives the biggest bang for the buck. The availability rates alone on the Hornet would be equal to the M2K in the IAF service...IAF is very happy with the Mirages and if they get something with this kind of uptime (which the Hornet and Viper (Viper even more so), provide), then the IAF would be very happy...they would be able to generate more sorties and the F/A-18 is a better swing role aircraft than the Mig-35 (besides from a maint. standpoint, you still have the usual Russian engine issues of high MTTR, low MTBF etc.).
Even if the MRCA order is split 50/50, 60 or so F/A-18s in the IAF would be a major problem for the PAF despite the induction of 36 blk-52 F-16s..I would think that with the induction of J-10 with western avionics, PAF would be able to pose considerable deterrance to a beefed up IAF with F/A-18s, MKIs, Mig-35s and M2Ks.
