The Tu-22 M is a crappy old Russian cold-war era plane.... India should look to the US for bombers. Russian engines have very short usage period.

^Wow do you want India totally to move into America's sphere of influence. I think the nuke deal and training with American armed service personnel is more than enough.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea...hreadid=2192381

This why India shouldn't buy 5th generation weapon systems from America.

Possibly using refined petroleum they can make the Russian engines run more, but the Tu-22m is still a cold war-era plane. If they cant modernize it or offer the Tu-160, it seems like the Russians are pushing crap.

Personally i would prefer a bomber deal with a european/israeli company, but unfortunately they dont make bombers. I agree you cant trust America with weapons purchases all the time.

I agree. I know India is buying some UAV's from Israel.

Look at what Hezbollah could do with some modern anti tank weapons against the IDF. Tactics still plays a big part.

I think India has too many military problems to worry about such a large project like this. It's probably better for India to concentrate on mastering the technology of the Su-30MKI and LCA. My 2 cents.

Yes, maybe the Su-27IB/Su-32FN/Su-34 is a good alternative

TU-22M is a fine bomber. It can be used as a long range reconnance plane. But there are many more better bombers available in the market. I hope a good bomber would be purchased.

What use does India have for long range bombers? To bomb Mogadishu?

As you know that India has nuclear weapons. India needs long-range nuclear-capable bombers such as the Tu-22 to drop the nuclear bombs deep into enemy territoy. A long-range bomber is one of the many modes to drop a nuclear bomb. Another good mode is the use of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), but this technology is very hard to master.

Aren't ICBMs easy to make if you've got a space program as advanced as ISRO? I mean, they can put satellites into geosynchronous orbit - putting a nuclear warhead on one of those rockets and launching it around the world would be pretty easy....right? Please pardon my ignorance, btw.

The ICBMs are still in the development stage. The space rockets and ICBMs though same have some fundamental differences. The ICBMs need a guiding system to pinpoint the target on the ground. India is developing the cyrogenic technology for greater reach. It has already launched PSLV rocket into space sucessfully, this will pave the way for the development of the ICBMs. The Agni missles are IRBMs (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles) with range 3000-5500 km. The ICBMs are codenamed as Surya they are the more lethal weapons range > 5500 km. The Surya-2 is said to have range of 20,000 kms (12,400 miles), means it can hit anywhere on Earth.