F-16s Mix It Up With Su-30MKIs

Remember the Indian Air Force Su-30MKs that came to the USA for combined training against F-15Cs from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska? And the lessons learned from that exercise?

Those who have read draft copies of the report say the Su-30MKs and F-15 pilots were seeing each other at the same time with their radars, but the Indian pilots were getting off the simulated first shot with their AA-10 Alamo missiles and often winning the long-range engagements. The Indian pilots also had more flight time in the previous year than the U.S. pilots, roughly 300 hr. compared with 250 hr., the pilot said.

Those factors are causing the U.S. to rethink the formula that they always will be facing less well-trained pilots and inferior weaponry. They also reinforce the argument that the U.S. needs a fighter with greater radar range (the F/A-22's is more than 100 naut. mi.), stealth (the F-15 has a huge radar cross section) and fused sensors so that pilots can easily grasp what's going on around them.
Source: F/A-22 Secrets Revealed

Now the USAF is over in India, training with the Indian Air Force.

11/10/2005 - KALAIKUNDA AIR STATION, India (AFPN) -- For the first time, U.S. pilots faced the Indian Air Force’s most advanced, and newest, fighter -- the Su-30 MKI -- during an exercise Cope India 06 mission here.

The F-16s met in the air with six different types of aircraft in the Indian Air Force's inventory.

The American fighters are also squaring off against an older version of the Su-30 Flanker during the exercise, which runs through Nov. 19. The Indians are also flying the MiG-21 Fishbed, MiG-27 Flogger, MiG-29 Fulcrum and Mirage 2000 against U.S. Airmen participating in the exercise.
Source: American, Indian Airmen ‘mix it up

This will be the first USAF aerial combat data for Su-30MKIs. The Su30MKI is built in India, and has advanced electronics compared to the other Su-30 models. It will be interesting to see further articles in the weeks to come, on the Su-30MKI's combat capabilities.

Su-30 FLANKER (SUKHOI) data ref: www.globalsecurity.org...

Lets make a common thread for this shall we?

There's another one here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

EDIT: And the exercise at Alaska didn't involve Su-30s if I'm not mistaken.

It was Jaguars and one IL-78 Midas Refueler.
The Su-30/F-15 encounter happened in Gwalior,India last year.

[edit on 12-11-2005 by Daedalus3]

There's a little confusion of what took place and where, for the various combined training with the Indian Air Force.
Here's a brief but definitive list:

Joint Air Force exercises with India:
2002 - Cope India at Agra, India - Air transport aircraft exercises.
2004 - Cooperative Cope Thunder 04-01 at Alaska (the IAF Jaguars, Canada,
Germany, Sri Lanka, Japan and Malaysia.)
2004 - Cope India 04 at Gwalior, India (the Alaska F-15s vs Su-30MK)
2005 - Cope India 06 at Kalaikunda, India (the F-16 vs Su-30MKI)

Joint Army exercises with India:
2002 - Exercise "Balance Iroquois" at Agra (Airborne Assault Operations)
2002 - Exercise "Geronimo Thrust" at Alaska (Airborne Training)
2003 - Two exercises of "Vajra Prahar" series at Vairengate and Leh (Special Forces training)

There have been over 20 Cope Thunder exercises.
Eielson AFB became home of the Cope Thunder training exercise series in 1992.
2003 - Cooperative Cope Thunder 03 at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska (JASDF)
2004 - Cope Thunder 04-02 at Eielson AFB, Alaska (USAF/USN exercise)
2005 - Cope Thunder 06-01 at Eielson AFB, Alaska (multi-national exercise)

The important part: The IAF Su-30MKs demonstrated an air-to-air combat capability equal to, or better than, the USAF F-15s, in the 2004 Cope India 04 exercise. This is a major change in air superiority for the USAF.
A copy of the original Aviation Week article can be found here.

Details of the engagement are still classified but the world fighter pilot community is agog with the news of "poor showing" by U.S. F-15 C fighters during "dissimilar air combat training" with IAF`s Sukhoi-30 MK.
www.globalsecurity.org...

First articles appearing on F-16 vs Su-30MKI:

Cope India 2006 - Su-30 MKI take on F-16s
US Embassy Press Release @ India
IAF to analyse F-16s before Pakistan acquires aircraft


[edit on 13-11-2005 by ZPE StarPilot]