Posted on 11/20/2005 6:19:39 AM PST by Gengis Khan
KALAIKUNDA, NOV 17: As the Cope India 2005 Indo-US air force exercises wound down today after two weeks of feverish action in the eastern skies, the US Air Force were left with a stark, double-edged realization.
One — that it is no longer the unchallenged leader in the skies, and two—for all future joint operations in South Asia, the IAF would, without doubt, be its natural partner.
Vice Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces Lt Gen Dave Deptula said: ‘‘I have never seen a better executed exercise in my 29 years with the USAF. This will go a long way towards establishing peace and stability in the region. Every single objective of this exercise has been met. It was not the US against India. It was an exercise on how to operate together.’’
Admittedly, the two forces still have much to learn from each other, especially in procedures and operational routines. Both sides said that given an immediate security threat, the two forces now had the capability to fly together in response. ‘‘We will now be prepared if called upon in the future for a contingency, unnamed and unknown. We will be in a position to respond. We can get onto the task of resolving crisis situations together without wasting time,’’ Lt Gen Deptula said. Today, the two sides flew a rare high value airborne asset (HVAA) attack simulation over Kalaikunda, which principally illustrated the cohesive nature of this round of war games. In the mission, the USAF’s E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft was escorted by American F-16s and Indian Su-30s in a scenario where the AWACS was attacked by a hybrid mix of American F-16s, Indian Mirage-2000s and Su-30s. In the words of one of Mirage pilots, this, more than any of the other maneuvers in the last weeks, epitomized what Cope India was about. Air Marshal Fali Major, Eastern Commander, said: ‘‘This exercise simulated a hot war scenario in a conventional setting. It was not about terror.’’
During the last Cope India exercise in February 2004, American F-15 pilots had admitted finding it bizarre that their Indian counterparts had routed them in many maneuvers. This time round, the buzzword was a studied ‘jointness’, though pilots told this newspaper off the record that the IAF had maintained its ‘‘one-up’’.
Beware of paranoia. It wants to destroy you
btt
Our track record in choosing our allies -- especially in Asia and the Middle East -- isn't great. I don't trust the Indians any farther than I can throw a tandoori oven.
What you got to do is stop seeing the current strong man as "a friend of democracy" - despite evidence to the contrary
anyone spot the trainer ?
Thats sensationalist reporting. My father who is a USAF major said the US won every BVR(beyond visual range) engagement but had some trouble with the SU30 in dogfights. The US also always has to be handicapped in these exercises and cant ever really function fully with these rules in place. Meaning we gave the su30 awacs support along with our f16. Since the F16 is an old fighter and the su30 is a supperior one the indians jump on this like they are great pilotseven though they lost in the BVR engagements. The F22 would have raped anything they had there and in real warfare their future awacs would be smoldering hulks before we sent our strike package in. I hate this biased BS reporting I guess its to play to the fanatical uneducated nationalistic masses. Oh well it was an exercise against pakistan and china mainly.
Moot. I highly doubt that scenario would ever stay conventional. The Chicoms do not play the political correctness routine as we, unfortunatley, do.
The Marxist Congressmen in our nation better see this as they keep cutting back on the F-22 and are now talking like canceling the whole Joint Strike Fighter program in order to pay for more global welfare, some of which is used to develop better weapons than we have. These scumsuckers still believe the gap between us and the rest is light years when that gap is closing rapidly.
. . . Then again, even if American elected officials know this, they don't give a hoot. They just as soon would sell out the USA for one crack at more political power.
Just Google for f-22 and raptor.
They're supposedly going with the yet-to-be in service, F-35. That'll only cost $40-50M depending on the version.
BTW, the numbers are per a plane.
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program is proposing to buy up to two dozen more fighters than currently planned, according to a program official.
While the Navy now is slated to buy 550 Boeing-built Super Hornets, Capt. James Wallace, the service's F/A-18 international programs manager, said the program believes the Navy could use another 20 to 24 of the high-demand aircraft, or enough to equip two squadrons. Wallace, who spoke Nov. 17 at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's fighter jet conference, said the case for more jets is being made to higher-ups.
Wallace said, however, that arguments for more Super Hornets have been complicated by the uncertain fate of the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Navy plans to buy the stealthy F-35's carrier variant to complement the Super Hornet, but the Defense Department has been studying a range of options for the multiservice JSF, including slowing the program, speeding it up and killing the carrier variant.
For the Super Hornet, more Navy orders, along with international sales, could strengthen the case for pursuing a third multiyear procurement contract. The Navy is buying 421 jets under the first two multiyears.
Although the Super Hornet still is looking for its first export customer, Wallace said he is talking with several potential buyers, including one unnamed country that recently signed a "letter of intent," signaling it is "very interested" in buying the aircraft.
India, which is evaluating several fighters, including the Super Hornet, recently asked for a classified briefing on the Super Hornet's new Raytheon-built APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. The U.S. government is expected to decide in January or February whether to approve that request, Wallace said. Granting the briefing would indicate the United States is willing to approve the radar's sale to India.
Besides seeing the potential to export hundreds of new Super Hornets, the Navy would consider making 58 of its used jets available for sale to foreign customers, Wallace said.
The U.S. Navy has taken delivery of 245 Super Hornets so far and has used them extensively in Iraq. The Navy's planned Super Hornet purchase is expected to sustain the production line until 2013.
The Super Hornet's current price for the Navy is $53 million per aircraft. The Navy ultimately hopes to cut the cost to about $50 million.
Find this article at:
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp?id=news/FA1811185.xml
Cool. Weird, but cool. ;)
fourth from the back, longer canopy.
What do i win? (jk)
CC
in this, the Indians are well in advance of the Chinese or the Russians, and probably the French as well (but not the UK ;)
How long before the Australian or the UK Frankenstein turns on us? *an equally silly statement*
I understand this, but the boastful nature of the writing was worthy of some scorn, IMHO.
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.