After transferring Mi-25 Attack Gunships to Afghanistan on request of Afghan President recently, India is deliberating if a Srilankan request to provide fighter jets for their air force can be taken up after India forced Srilanka to reconsider their decision on making the purchase of Sino-Pakistan developed JF-17 fighter jets.
Well, informed Sources in air force close to idrw.org have informed us that instead of offering Homegrown LCA-Tejas to Srilanka, IAF may transfer some of Upgraded Mig-27 along with Spares to Srilankan Air force at FOC ( Free of Cost).
Srilankan Air force already operates Mig-27 purchased from Ukraine and Russia in past and HAL/IAF have helped train Pilots/Aircrew while Srilankan Military was on offensive against LTTE, Mig-27s along with Kfir fighter jets played crucial roles in Bombing LTTE targets in the last phase of the Civil war.
Indian Air forces already have plans to retire older un-upgraded Mig-27s from its fleet this year on wards and also have plans to phase out upgraded Mig-27s by 2019 along with Mig-21s. idrw.org