As a engineer i can tell you, buying individual parts and assembling is always more expensive than buying a fully assembled equipment.
MMRCA should be pursued with more vigor. Not shelved. A homegrown jet with even 75% of the sophistication of rafale, can be used in large numbers to offset quality.
Where our 250+ sukhois fit in is a never ending puzzle for me ? We are still buying more of them but seem to have more faith in the m2000 of the 80s.
MMRCA if completed within reasonable price increase compared to direct imports from a country. Total support.
Su30MKI is heavy duty air superiority primarily. It simply means that once Rafales complete their SEAD/DEAD in case of a conflict, an airspace with Su30MKI on its own without any supporting aircrafts will deter any possible flying machine our enemies have or may have even for next decade.
It's radar might be PESA , but it's capabilities to multi task is a big advantage in any cluttered conflicted airspace. No AESA of China will come even close to what our Bars is capable of doing in a cluttered airspace against a larger number of targets all at once. Russians do have an AESA now, it's just not a very big upgrade over our PESA , that's why we are still waiting. We spent quite a big amount on ToT for Bars.
What's F15 for US armed forces, Su30MKI is for us.