Well said Pioneer! I think a most well thought out post indeed.

The CFE itself is obsolete and withdrawing from it is no way significant, UNLESS we consider it from a broader political perspective. one must realize that it perhaps signifies turning point in Russian policy, one from protesting and making exception and other such diplomatic nonsense to one of actually taking action.

City to host fighter planes for IAF exercise

Wonderful Tango, this is one of my most favorite threads.

Thiruvananthapuram: Six Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will arrive in the city on Thursday to participate in a massive air combat exercise over the southern Peninsula scheduled to be held in the first week of December.

The French-built light-weight fighter aircraft are expected to touch down at the IAF’s technical area inside the airport at 2.30 p.m. The fighters are based in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

The IAF operations will not affect domestic and international flights from the city. The Kerala component of the exercise will start on December 3 and conclude on December 5. The fighters will be flying mostly beyond visual range and the combat exercises will be mainly over the sea.

However, residents could expect to hear the distant rumble of fighter jets and possibly see some combat aircraft streaking overhead. The complex air combat drills will be held mostly in the morning and early afternoon. There could also be some night flying.

The exercise has been code named ‘Dakshin Prahar’ and will cover the skies over Bangalore and the island territories of Lakshadweep and Minicoy. It will help the IAF gauge its reach over the seas and also test how well military and civilian assets (chiefly radars and airfields) have been integrated for better air defence surveillance.

Six British-French built Jaguar ground attack aircraft and an unknown number of Sukhoi 30 MKIs (IAF’s Russian-built long-range, heavy-class, multi-role air superiority strike fighter) will participate in the exercise.

The Jaguars will take off from the Arakkonam Naval Air base near Chennai. The Sukhois, supported by Russian-built IL-78 airborne fuel tankers for mid-air refuelling, will fly down for the exercise from their home base in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

The IAF will be deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance and reconnaissance and possibly also as air-borne targets for the fighters.

The UAVs will be operated remotely by controllers in IAF bases in Sulur and Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

‘Dakshin Prahar’ signifies the growing strategic importance of the Southern Air Command (SAC). The exercise is of great importance to the IAF, particularly in the wake of reports that certain non-State actors in the region have acquired minimal air-combat capability.

Certain components of the IAF, most likely the Jaguars, will be mimicking the role of invading aircraft.

The Mirage 2000s and the Sukhois will play the role of interceptors. The aircraft will engage each other in simulated dog fights. The exercise will also test the IAF’s reconnaissance and ground attack capabilities in maritime conditions.

The Indian Navy has committed some of its assets for the operation for testing its ‘inter-operability levels with the IAF. The second phase of the exercise will cover the northern part of the peninsula (from Hyderabad to south of Nagpur).

http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/29/stories/2007112960340300.htm

BAF
Bangladesh Air Force
from bdmilitary.com

If you pay careful attention you might find something interesting.. 😉

heres what they had planned for the F-16E/F block 60 originally…

Do you mean this? (couldn’t see it but saw the link while replying).

http://afbase.com/bbs/data/gaga/1156827351/block60earlyscalemodel.jpg

If you find a good politician, shoot him before he turns bad.

Or before he stops Israel’s nuclear program 😉

The fact that the USA constantly insists on carelessly restraining itself on the battlefield never helps matters either.

Thats highly debatable. I’d say more the opposite, shooting civilians on sight.

Overall, I think Distiller has it right, but only about say 10 years ago at least. The UK has already been hoodwinked dear Distiller, now there is no time to develop an alternative to the F-35. Say “thank you” and “please” to America and be happy in an alternative Orwellian 1984.

mabie, I don’t think its that simple.. cell phones with gps are made to be picked up and so are satellite phones.. the latter was learnt at great expense by the Taliban during the initial phase of the war..

Please, I’ve worked with individuals from numerous different nations including the UK (including some Ukrainian SOF types in Iraq, that resulted in a hugely hilarious tale involving the Mi-24), and despite what often gets played up in the press from the political side, there is a great deal of respect and cooperation from the military side of the house that often gets overlooked when people latch onto the latest BBC or CNN story involving political antics by one side or the other.

SOC, thats true, I’m sure, and I’m sure you know a good deal about it being in the USAF. Yet at times Brits do get really flabbergasted with some of the antiques – one example is the F-35.

And I guess right now a good part of the British population is blaming the US for dragging them into Iraq, what with all the “secrets revealed” dirty laundry flying around.

In the end, I’d think the USAF would want its own plane monitoring.. Its almost an organizational / bureaucratic mindset and I’m sure you have had first hand experience of that.