Red Flag 2008

desert_fox · Post time 11-11-2008 04:12 PM

DATE:10/11/08
SOURCE:Flight International
Pilot's YouTube indiscretions could trigger wider air power debate
By Stephen Trimble

An unidentified US Air Force Boeing F-15 pilot has become an instant YouTube star, unwittingly sharing his explicit insights about the technical and aerodynamic capabilities and limitations of several of the world's best fighters.

While perhaps hurting the pride of the French, Indian and Russian air forces, the USAF pilot's straightforward and sometimes politically incorrect observations are likely to contribute to the ongoing debate about the future of air warfare in the US military's requirements and budget pecking order.

The precise circumstances of the pilot's lecture to a small audience are unconfirmed. He may have known he was being videotaped, but his comments were not likely to be intended for wide distribution.

It is clear that the pilot participated in the recent Red Flag exercise, which also drew India's , French Dassault Rafales and South Korean F-15Ks.

He says the USAF wanted to atone for its abysmal showing by mostly inexperienced pilots against the Indian air force's best Su-30K pilots at a 2004 exercise called Cope India. Four years later, the service's pilots impressed with their professionalism and skill at Red Flag, but the USAF pilot is proud to report: "Amazingly, we dominated."

The F-15 pilots used their simulated combat experience against the thrust-vectoring capability of the Lockheed Martin F-22 to exploit the Su-30MKI's main weakness in post-stall manoeuvring, the pilot says. He adds: "So we start to pull in on him, and then all of a sudden you start to see the [Su-30's aft-] end kick down and he starts doing vectored thrust. But now he starts falling out of the sky. He's falling out of the sky so fast that you don't even have to go up. You just have to pull back on the stick a little bit, pull the throttle, go to guns and come in and drill his brains out."

The pilot notes that the F-15 dominated the Su-30MKI in dogfights so much that the USAF is concerned their success could have budget repercussions.

"Now what I'm scared of is Congress is going to hear that and go - 'great, we don't need to buy any more airplanes'. No, no, no, no," the pilot tells an audience that includes retired air force leaders.

He adds that "it's only a matter of time" before the Indian air force Su-30 pilots learn how to overcome the F-15 tactic used so successfully against them at Red Flag. Moreover, the pilot explains that the F-15s and Lockheed Martin F-16s face several other vulnerabilities in modern combat. He confirms hints that the USAF's long-range radar-guided missiles are susceptible to jamming, blunting their edge in beyond-visual-range combat.

The Indian air force's top-line Su-30MKI fighter is not the USAF's only worry. The USAF pilot also says the Indian air force's RSK MiG-21 Bison aircraft, modified with Israeli radar, active radar missiles and electronic jammers, are now nearly "invisible" to the F-15's and F-16's current mechanically scanned arrays.

The Indian MiG-21 pilots can use their jammers to sneak past the USAF radar screen and engage the F-15s and F-16s in dogfights, where the outcome is far from pre-determined.

"The MiG-21 had the ability to get in the scissors with you at 110kt [200km/h] at 60