Indian/American Fighter training

[Aviator4000]

I heard on the news (one of the alphabet stations) that U.S. Air Force F-15's trained against the Indian Air Force and the Indian Air Force did unexpectedly well against our jets. Does anyone know detail about this? If this really happened this is embarrasing and in my opinion a good reason the Navy should consider replacing the Tomcats with carrier equipped F-22's and possibly look into seeing if they can fit the 22 with the phoenix missle. As a nation we have invested a lot of money in air power (B-2A's B-1b's and such) we should really make the investment to protect our Air Superiority. What do you guys think?

 

[VetteMuscle427]

No way the F-22 could fit an AIM-54... it would be wayyyy to big. Remember.. the F-22 needs a special AMRAAM that is smaller than standard to fit in its weapons bay. In addition, strengthening the 22 to hold up to carrier landings would impose a lot of weight. I'm sure someone somewhere thought of it and dismissed the idea.

 

[ET-Mike]

Frankenstein never scared me......

 

[Dawgfan]

Not only can the Indians answer your tech support questions regarding Windows XP, they can also shoot you down with superior Russian technology. Sweet.

 

[ET-Mike]

Marsupials do though........

 

[Pags]

First off, the phoenix is an ancient missile, and a missile that was designed to shoot down russian bombers, not fighters. Second, making an aircraft carrier capable is a little more in-depth than putting a tail hook on the end of it. You'd basically end up with a completely new aircraft that would be ridiculously expensive. And the Navy wouldn't want to have an AF designed a/c flying off of it's carriers.

 

[Flash]

I don't know how much stock I would take in those reports. The Indian Air Force is notorious for its extremely high crash rate, in large part because they do not have an advanced jet trainer. After a 20 year decision making process, they finally signed a contract for some Hawks from the Brits this spring. Their MiG-21's have a particularly bad accident rate. Plus, I am sure that there are many people around the world that would jump on anything that makes the US look not so good, including Aviation Leak.

That is not to say that they are not true, you would have to talk to someone who was at the excercise.

You also have to remember that they only have 40 Su-30's (in addition to a large number of other fighters), one Tomahawk strike on that base and they are done. Why fight fair when you can win dirty?

 

[ET-Mike]

cause they're fast....

 

[Slammer2]

Not only can the Indians answer your tech support questions regarding Windows XP, they can also shoot you down with superior Russian technology. Sweet.

haha...thats great


I did a search to read about this and I came across this site:

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/06-18-04.asp

They're saying that the US lost most of the fights because we underestimated their "numerical skill". It just seemed kinda funny the way it was written.

 

[vegita1220]

Guess that's what the -22s are for.

"The exercise, in which US F-15Cs were said to have been defeated more than 90 per cent of the time in direct combat exercises against the IAF, is causing US Air Force officials to re-evaluate the way the service trains its fighter pilots while bolstering the case for buying the F/A-22 as a way to ensure continued air dominance for the United States.”

-But for the conspiracy theorists out there, F-15s losing to the IAF make a GREAT sell for the F-22 don't it? Maybe TOO good...

But I absolutely love this part

"The numerical analysis and problem solving capability of IAF Pilots are well known and are probably the best in the world. In absence of signal intelligence, satellite guidance and automated software control, USAF faced Indians who were world class and
far superior than their US counterpart. IAF recruits the country’s best brains in Air Force. It is prestigious too. USAF can only recruit willing average or slightly above average.

-Putting aside our natural enmity with the zoomies for a moment, I have to say, I wasn't aware the Air Force was so hard up that they actually had to RECRUIT fighter pilots. Always thought there were enough people willing to give up their left nut to fly. "Numerical analysis and problem solving capability?" Wow better keep that one under wraps or the Navy's going to be kicking out anybody who doesn't have an engineering degree.

 

[VetteMuscle427]

How do we fare when we have our whole package versus their whole package?

 

[viv]

As an Indian-American, I can vouch that the package is formidable and should never be underestimated.

 

[Pags]

...so to speak

 

[petescheu]

THe F-22 will never land on a carrier. It's too big and too heavy, and it was never designed to do that. The AIM-54 has been retired, and was designed specifically for the F-14; hence the reason it's the only a/c in the inventory that used to carry the missle. A/C design is way more complex then throwing a few bolts on here or there to attach something you want on there.
I totally disagree with the quote about how the A/F can only recuit average people to fly their fighters. The A/F fighter community is no joke, and there are some very very intelligent and competent people in that community. That line in the previous post sounds like a little bit of home field arrogance on behalf of the writer, who I assume to be Indian. Although we all know where assumptions get us... Although it seems to me Indian people are always so damn smart for some reason, at least the ones I know.
I'm glad the incident happened in the end; very important for congress to see that 15s are way beyond their service life and need to be replaced with a platform that can assume US air dominance for at least another 50 years.

 

[American_Ace]

I thought the JSF was supposed to be the navy's fast-mover, and doesn't the JSF have the same radar as a 22 (I'm really asking, because I heard it does, but I'm not certain)?