I'm intrigued by today's news of a Philippine Air Force air strike against a terrorist camp on the southern island of Sulu. According to reports, a pair of PAF OV-10 Broncos dropped four 500lb bombs during the 3am raid, killing 15 terrorists (2000lbs of HE packs a hell of a punch). Among the casualties was one terrorist with a $5 million bounty on his head and two other senior terrorists.

The reports indicated that a US drone provided support during the raid. While I have the utmost respect for the men of the PAF and acknowledge that the Bronco is one of the great counter insurgency (COIN) aircraft of all time, I was not aware that PAF OV-10s possessed the capability to carry out a precision strike like this in the dead of night. And wouldn't the noise of the OV-10's engines have alerted the terrorists that something was up?

There is something fishy here. What, exactly, is the nature of this US drone support? While it is certainly possible that a US MQ-1 Predator could have designated the targets for the Broncos, it's also entirely possible that this lethal raid is the work of an MQ-9 Reaper. Or, could the shooter have been a US Navy or USAF platform flying at high altitude? Hmmm.

Spotted some Singapore Air Show posters at Changi Airport MRT station. Quite like the clever 'Top Fun' movie theme they've adopted for the show, although those two Leopard II tanks look as if they are about to run down that family.

Also checked the Air Show web site and so far there is no indication that the two F-22s shown in the poster will be performing a flying display. The F-35 is listed on static, but don't be fooled: it will likely be the 1:1 model version that Lockheed trots out for air shows.  My colleague Firdaus (@fhavg) just told me that SIA's last Boeing 747-400 will be on static at the show.  That's cool.

Flightglobal will have a big team at the show and a stand as well. We'll be writing plenty of stories for the web site, as well producing an interactive daily.  Also keep your eyes out for our show report on Thursday with all the big and small stories from the show.

Have a story idea? Feel free to swing by and tell us about it. 

India's Economic Times has reported that the MMRCA contract could be announced within ten days, qouting sources.  Of course, on 21 December India's Business Standard said a decision was coming 'within a fortnight.' In February last year, the Hindu qouted none less than the Air Chief himself as saying the deal would be signed by September 2011.

The only definitive story announcing a winner came Friday from Grande Strategy, a blog apparently based in Pakistan that purports to provide and 'Islamic perspective' on geopolitical security issues.  Grande Strategy quotes unammed sources as saying that the Eurofighter won. As The Aviationist points out, however, the authors of Grande Strategy are not likely to be that well plugged into Delhi's decision making apparatus. And in any case the Indian MoD has played the MMRCA cards close to its chest for years now.

The best summing up of what is happening is probably Livefist's posting on Friday, which suggests that Delhi could make the announcement before Republic Day on the 26^th. 

Media reports in India remind me that it has been one year since the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft achieved initial operation capability.  At Aero India last year Tejas was one of the stars of the air show. After two decades of delays and problems officials were optimistic about India's most ambitious programme since the HAL Marut in the 1950s and 1960s.

One year and over 240 flight tests later, Indian media reports suggest the aircraft is nowhere near achieving final operation clearance and that the Indian Air Force is no fan.  Indeed, one analyst I spoke to before Aero India told me that the Tejas represented "a victory for the guys in lab coats over the guys in flight suits."

What's more, the Naval Tejas also seems stuck. After being rolled out in mid-2010 the first flight was scheduled for 2011. The Indian Navy told me in mid-2011 that a first flight was due in September or October, but this never materialised.  

Perhaps 2012 will be brighter, with more tests for Tejas as well as a first flight for the naval variant.  Could a final operational clearance be forthcoming before Aero India 2013?