Posted on 02/03/2005 8:44:39 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
Amen!
(Kings of the East?)
Since when does conservative Jane's write articles tabloid-style?!
I wouldn't buy into it the pentagon is trying to downplay the performance of the F-15 against the russian built su-27 in order to justify the need for the f-22 raptor. Most of these countries don't put any where near the training time in as us pilots.
A close Indo-American relationship wouldn't hurt, either.
I agree that the pentagon marginalizes a lot of weapons systems to benefit development programs. It is a tradition. That said, it has worked well in many cases, producing solid leads in military technology. In the case of the F-22, I favor keeping the F-15 around for a while and cutting the former. For that matter, bring 105's back - fastest thing under 20K feet, ever.
Jane's is starting to suck with this kind of trash.
One more thing. I'm not demeaning the IAF, They are a very professional group and probably very fine pilots and I applaud and support them whole heartedly. But who have they ever really fought? Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Not exactly a bunch of aces. They even complained about the f-15s we gave them.
Today's American pilots have not fought Luftwaffe or Russian WWII aces either.
The whole region gets more interesting by the moment.
The Israeli airforce has patented modern aerial warfare.Starting with the 6 day war(first use of AAMs) to the 82 Bekaa conflict(use of AWACS datalinks,UAVs,network warfare & a subsequent 90-0 record).The Israeli Python-4 AAM(which is probably the weapon mentioned in the article) was superior to the American Sidewinder,till it's lastest variant,the AIM-9X entered service(a good 10 years after the Python-4).Most folks don't know that Israeli pilots regularly took on & even shot down Soviet pilots who were flying Syrian & Egyptian planes prior to the Yom Kippur war of '74.Not to mention the constant reports of them trouncing American & German pilots.
Jordanian,Saudi or even Egyptian pilots can't ever be considered as louts.Many of them have trained/or train with American,British & French airforces.
Well, I would say there may be some points of contention here especially about the first to use aam missles but as I said I don't take anything away from the IAF. And correct that todays stock of Af pilots have not had to engage with the aces of the past or present if there are any. So for the most part, I stand corrected or even educated.
"...Iran, which the Israelis believe has nuclear ambitions."
NO! Say it aint so!
This is quite exciting - the whole story.
Yes thats true. In the early days of the 1973 Yom Kippur war the IAF took quite a few losses. Mostly from sams. Then the IAF devised a plan to knock them out and the IAF really took it to the Egyptians and who ever was flying against them. They were using their indigenous version of the mirage (KFIR) with US made GE J79 engines I believe. Again, I take nothing away from the ability of the IAF. I would definitely want them fighting on my side in a war.
Thanks. I let them have it. I doubt that Israel will let ANYONE from ANY foreign country near its nuclear secrets.
The Kfir was based on the Mirage-5 strike jet to be more precise.The Mirage-3 was the frontline IAF fighter of the 60s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.