Red Thunder or Red Scrap???

I was alarmed to read several comments by certain members on the site who believe Russian tech’ is worthless, however when u get a nation such as India which is cleared to buy Western tech’ such as the Mirage2k, Jaguar and Orion P-3 then why spend large quantities on Russian “crap”?
For decades Russia has set the standard for which Western aircraft are designed to compete against, not Chinese aircraft, not French aircraft and not British aircraft but RUSSIAN. So are people such as Goldendragon saying the Cold War was just a joke and Russian aircraft couldn’t compete against the West?
The fact that Russia takes a different approach to fighter design doesn’t mean they build inferior aircraft. The MiG-29 may be inferior compared to the F-16 or F/A-18 in avionics and BVR engagements but then again I doubt any self-respecting Falcon or Hornet pilot would like to tangle with a Fulcrum in a one on one situation at close range (notice I say one on one and not 250 on one with the support of AWACS).
The Su-27 in its basic form is inferior to the F-15C when given BVR engagements, but stick an Eagle in a dogfight with a Flanker and u will see how good the Su is.
Point is Western aircraft are designed to support Western tactics which call for stand off engagements where the Western aircraft have the edge…albeit slight.
Russian fighters are concentrated around the dogfight arena, get in close are then kill ’em. The Soviets were willing to lose great numbers of planes to get at a NATO fighter group, a formation of say 12 MiG-29s could expect to lose 8 planes thru BVR missiles with F-16s before closing in and tangling with the Falcons. This is still in many respects the case today, though Russia is waking up to its current situation and is trying to improve its fighters BVR capabilities.

Remember, don’t wrestle with a pig in mud. You may be the stronger one but the pig loves getting dirty. 😉