Originally posted by PLA
IAF pilots score over Yanks
Chandan Nandy
Gwalior, February 25

United States Air Force (USAF) pilot Captain David Skalicky and his colleagues from the Alaska-based Pacific Command met their match among their Indian counterparts during the six-day Cope 2004 Indo-US Air Force exercise.

The exercise, which began on February 19, was the first between the two air forces involving fighter combat.

The score in the “match-up” is yet to be quantified, but the Indian pilots were upbeat. Several had a common refrain: “We gave them a few surprises in air combat. They have begun to respect us, though we also learnt a great deal from them,” said one, pride writ large over his face.

Six USAF F-15Cs were pitted against a range of Jaguars, MiG-21s, MiG-27s and the “fearsome” Sukhoi-30s.

The exercise was meant to evaluate tactics, training and operational procedures. No senior officer from either country was willing to go on record on who scored most points. But some Indian pilots claimed the “kill ratio” was 4:1 in their favour.

Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani, who is senior Air Staff Officer at the Central Air Command, was more tempered. He said the exercise concluded with “mutual respect for each others’ skills” and that it should not be viewed as a “boxing match”.

Did I predcit this. An India victory will be leaked, but no offical results will be made available to the public.

What a surprise. 😀

Both sides are happy. IAF gets good porpaganda, USAF gets a reason for the F/A-22. 😀

Why must i carry exocet ?

You don´t like Penguin, Harpoon or their russian counterparts ??

My suggestion would be the NFH90.

But that is no DSLR. And you can´t put a 400mm lense on that camera.

And you really want to have at least 200-300mm for aircraft photography.

I would suggest the upcoming Nikon D70 at the moment. Best value for money at the moment.

No no, you would want the avionics, the digital gadgets and the compatibility with the Armies vision of the digital battlefield.

And especially the operating costs would be the same.

My idea would be based on the A129 International. Add US avionics and improoved electro-optic systems. Add more armor.

Keep the gun and 2 hardpoints on the stubwings.

Ok here is my list oh what the army might buy :

Fixed wing transport : C-27J and give the Air Force a fit
LUH : S-76, Bell 427, MD Explorer
Recce : A129, AH-1Z, MD600N

I´m really thinking about possible candidates for the recce role :

– it must be readily available
– it must be armed
– must clearly be superior to the OH-58

furthermore I guess they will want 2 seats only

I only can think of the follwoing canidates :

– A129 Mangusta
– Eurocopter Tiger
– AH-1 Cobra (yes I´m not joking)

My bet is on the A-129 International with the LHTEC T800 engines. It seems like the logical choice.

http://www.agusta.com

Now they only need to get rid of the V-22 and buy some UH-60s + EH101 instead and they will be fine.

I wonder what helicopter they will consider as a replacement. Perhaps the A-129 Mangusta as a scout ??

Well only think I heard is that british Mr. Hoon is pressing Germany to reduce the number of the EF order, so that the british can keep the same workshare but only buy a reduced number.

Britain also wants changes to the equipment standard of Tranche 2 and a longer delivery schedule.

German government has agreed to think about the proposal, but is offically (that is important – so don´t give a cent on it) commited to the 180 planes ordered,

You can fire the KH-55s without the warhead – you know. And if they hit close enough, you can also claim that they did destroy their target.

I do agree that it is more likely that a conventional armed cruise missile was used. But there is no proof in the article.