Havaarla, look, it's obvious now that you have no intention of spending the time and effort to understand the context with regard to Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region. Instead you are more interested in defending the Su-35 sale.
E.g., you say that if Indonesia chose to to upgrade their Flanker fleet they will be able to get the same upgrade package and end up with very similar aircrafts. Guess what, you are right, and still misses the point, which is that so far they have not.
E.g., you tried to contrast the multiple Flanker types with diversifying into different types of jets from different countries and different factories. Nobody says it's better, man. And yet Indonesia does exactly that. Part of it is due to lack of coherent procurement plan, but part of it is because Indonesia runs a heavy/med/light mixed fleet. When Toblerone asked why Saab offered Gripen, that's because Gripen can slot into the light fighters niche. And why does Indonesia use light fighters? Because a centralized heavy fighter squadron can not respond to incidents far away in a timely manner even when it is technically within range. And if you do dispersed bases that can intercept in a timely manner, you can make do with a more economical aircraft with less range and payload.
Anyway, at this point I am repeating myself. So I will bow out. If you want to discuss the Flankers in the context of Indonesia, feel free to go to the Indonesian Air Force thread. You probably don't care about it though, other than to make sure that the Flanker name is not besmirched somehow. Again, Flankers are very good aircrafts and no one is trying to besmirch the Flanker's reputation.
Now hold it! Why the sour face?
Look, It makes little value to debate the Indonesian AF structure at this point anyway. We do not know how it will look it the near and distant future.
They might as well close down one or two AB and concentrate all on one big AB(See Norway AF..) for all we know.
Running an Airforce does not come cheaper by time.
Its not about procuring the Su-35S cause its a Russian heavy jet.
Its much more about cost, which is what my point was about all along.
The Su-35S is rolling off KnAAZ as we speak, and there will most likely be several AF fielding it in the the next few years.
That means comodity and spares parts for the future.
Who knows how long the Su-35S production line will last.
Like Toblerone says, the Ruble is very low and if Indonesia ever gonna buy it, the time is right.
Edit: I'm not even sure if KnAAZ is exporting the Su-27SKM anymore..
Su-35S might be the only singel crew Flanker out there now.
I would question the cost between new build Gripen/F-16 and Flanker these days.
Granted, a Flanker would be more complex with two engines to service. They still would have only a limited numbers anyway.
And while going for a limited numbers, why not get the Su-35S, lets face it. You do get bangs for cheap bucks with it.
And the fact that they went for a light/heavy mix has more to do with accusition and timeframe than it had to do with their intended AF structure.
They bought what they could at the time.
