Posted on 01/29/2003 6:47:49 PM PST by Destro
F-15s & Sukhois in joint exercise
Statesman New Service
NEW DELHI, Jan. 28. — A friendly joust between F-15 fighters of the United States and the Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30s? Such a possibility exists as the two countries are exploring the possibility of joint fighter exercises.
Reacting to reports from the USA, , a senior Air Force officer confirmed such a possibility. He said the exercise was yet to be finalised but the two air forces would be talking about it. “It is under discussion. Relations between the two countries are improving. There is talk of various exercises. We are examining options but nothing is finalised as yet,” he said. Such interactions, the IAF believes, will improve skills on both sides. “There are bound to be gains on both sides– that happens with every exercise,” he said. Where the exercise will take place has not been decided, he said.
In the USA, USAF officials said the Pacific Command’s F-15 Eagle would participate in these exercises planned either for later this year or for 2004. The Americans, it appears, are keen to ‘checking out’ the Su-30. For, very few countries have the Russian-designed plane, one of the most modern in the world. Currently, India has two squadrons of the Su-30, though each squadron has slightly different planes. The USAF has exercised with other planes including the MiG-29, not to speak of the modern French built Mirage-2000.
The F-15 Eagle is a standard US air force plane, in service for over a decade, and tried and tested. The IAF has probably little experience with such a plane. In recent times, the two air forces have been working together with transport aircraft, both in Alaska and here, in Agra.
Bwah! Try around thirty years. Production started in 1972.
Well, ok - they've got a point - that's over a decade.
SukhoisDriver: "Okay, . . . go!"
EagleDriver: "FIGHT ON! . . . "
SukhoisDriver:"Hold On please, I have a little problem here."
EagleDriver:"ABORT . . . "
SukhoisDriver: "I need some help dear friend."
EagleDriver: "COPY . . . "
SukhoisDriver: "Do you have cup holders in F-15? My grape slushi is all over my flight suit. Damn cheap Pakistani lids . . ."
EagleDriver: "NEGATIVE, NO CUP HOLDER ABOARD."
SukhoisDriver: "Okay, I drank it all. Let's get back to work."
EagleDriver: "FIGHTS ON . . . "
another day in the life of a USAF Pilot
Don't laugh when you see a picture of an F-15E with a grape slushi painted on it's nose in Iraq.
F-15E, while it retains most of the air to air of the -D, is a dedicated air to bunker aircraft. It can carry the latest version of the "bunker buster". We should soon see these in action over all of Saddam's bunkers.
So . . . how about a grape slushi slammed against a bunker wall?
Depends on what you mean by "this". Friendlier relations with India? Well, India is not likely to buy US fighters, as the Russian ones are cheaper. The Russians themselves have brought SU-27s and other variants to the US and to airshows in various countries. F-15s even escorted the first group of them to visit the US about 10 years ago. I would think we'd have exercised with SU-27/30s somewhere or other by now.
The SU-30 is an improved (much improved) version of the SU-27, which itself was roughly equivalent to an F-15A.
This is an SU-30 in Russian markings at a Brit airshow.
BS revisionist history from your friend. Nehru was an out-and-out Fabian socialist who spent most of the 1950's sucking up to Khrushchev and the Soviets - the Non-Aligned Movement was a complete sham. Before that, the US really didn't have a favored side in the India-Pakistan rivalry, but that sort of behavior naturally caused the US to explore closer ties with Pakistan.
Not to argue - but the article doesn't mention the F-15E Strike Eagle - it talks about the F-15 Eagle - a different bird entirely. While the Strike Eagle came out in 1988, the first time I worked on an F-15 was in 1984, at Nellis AFB. There's a whole lot more of the air-to-air Eagles than there are air-to-mud Strike Eagles. I was fortunate to work on both platforms - did the field service evals for the F-100-220/220E for the C/D Eagles and the field service evals for the F-100-229 for the E models.
"Just another day at the ranch" when your flying an F-15E.
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