Flight shape profile...over the horizon ability..and Electronic warfare ability determine who will live and who will die.
Missiles...hypervelocity..exist now...the age of dog fighting is passing.
In 1982 during operation Peace for Galilee..the IAF routed the Syrian airforce to the tune of 80- zero.
In one instance..Syrian Migs were flying in formation chatting amongst themselves.
The IAF was not on their radars..but the Syrians were on the IAF's.
The Israeli's set the seek signature on their missile targeting to the frequency of the radio circuit the Syrians were chatting.
The Syrians were blown from the sky all at once..and never knew what hit them.
The Russian aircraft available now have unique flight characteristics abilites..and can carry sizable ordinance.
Yet...they must be able to locate and engage over the horizon..or they are quite useless against some nations airforces.
Aircraft can be detected instantly by satillite now....they are engaged by a aircraft vectored to them..with real time uplink data..the jet fires a hypervelocity missile which the other cannot out run....some can only be defeated by certain electronic jamming.
I would take an Israeli F-16 over any Soviet jet...its not the airframe or the thrust engines..its the radar/sat-uplink..and missile system.
Yes a Indian airforce Mig 29 or SU-30 would certainly have a distinct advantage on a Pakistani F-16.
I guess sometime in the near future we will get to see how the newer Soviet Jets fare against U.S. aircraft,or Israeli
I think the battles will be determined by who has better satillite uplink.
That is so true .......so very true!
Air battles are won by those who have information grids that allow military assets in the air and on the ground to correspond with each other in realtime, and to launch strike options at any opposing force.
That is the reason nothing can stand up to the USAF currently and in the future. With things like AWACS slaved to F-15s any enemy aircraft is bound to become a flaming ball of flame in seconds flat. And with the future introduction of the F-22 Raptor this advantage will only be enhanced ensuring American air domination for decades to come (since the Raptor will possess a formidable communication grid linking up several fighters into a cohesive combat unit).
Thus no matter how maneuvrable and effective Russian aircraft like the SU-33MKI and the advanced MIG-29M2 are they would still be fodder for 15 year old USAF F-15s with help from AWACS! Information and communicationt echnology is the key here. Which is why we swatted those Iraqi Mig-29 Fulcrums from the sky like they were flies!
However in India versus Pakistan the Indian SU-30MKIs have better capabilties than the Pakistani F-16As, plus possess a better communication, radar, and weapon payload than the Pakistani Falcons. If a war broke out between the two it would be a slaughter (and myopic individuals could say it 'shows' Russian Sukhis are better than F-16s when the ACTUAL fact is that the win was due to the SU-30s having all their combat ability and efficient radar while the F-16As sold to Pakistan had most of their high tech removed before being handed over by the US to Pakistan).
In essence the thing that makes the USAF win aerial battles is a mix of great aircraft, efficient pilot training, sheer numbers, PLUS the proliferation of communication and tactical targeting capabilities that allow an AWACS to tell an USAF F-16 (obviously not the Pakistani model) where to fire its Sparrow long before the firing aircraft has even acquired the target.
In the coming decades information will have the ability to kill the enemy, literally!