Does anyone know if these aircraft are modified Russian A-50Us or are they aircraft which received upgrades at various aerospace firms located in Israel after the airframes were purchased? Thanks.

Just saw a quick update on Euronews. Bomb threat was believed to have been made against the flight but upon a thorough search of the aircraft, the flight was given the all clear to continue on.

PLA, just wanted to know where you found these pictures and if you would happen to know the actual designation for this aircraft? Thanks.

Barak, my apologies, I sometime think faster than I type! Cheers.

German pilots, as competent as they are, weren’t exactly going into the sky with the best equipment money can buy. They are presently flying old F-4’s which, although regularly upgraded, are running out of breath quickly against jets such as the F-16 and F-15s normally flown by Israeli frontline units. I would imagine that once the German Luftwaffe will be able to thrown their Typhoons into the mix, the results might be slightly different.
As much as Israel is flying American fighters, these machines aren’t the same once they reach their assigned squadrons. Israel has long been known to develop their own systems which they later incorporate into various models. This is one of the reasons why they have encountered such successes against the Americans. The Israeli AF has been using their helmet cueing systems for a while now while the United States Air Force is just now introducing a similar system in the JHCMS. It will be interesting to see what happens once the F-22 is introduced.
As to the Israeli using Chinese fighters, one never knows what could happen in the future as I doubt very much the IDF/AF will ever be able to afford the Raptor. who knows, they might one day fly the J-10 or even the Eurofighter or maybe even head back to France for a few Rafales. Anything is possible and only time will tell! Cheers.

I do believe the engagements I refered to above were in the visual range arena. It is true to say that Israeli fighter pilots would prefer to engage their opponents in close, their record in past conflicts speak for themselves. I would imagine that, should the ROEs have been changed, the Americans would have had the edge in any type of engagement with BVR rules.
At no time was I implying that US fighter pilots are less proficient than their Israeli counterparts. American fighter pilots have proven themselves to be very good at what they do for a living. Having spoken to many of them at various airshows, I can vouch for that. However, various reports written by aviation authors have mentioned that fact that Israeliu pilots could be more aggresively trained which would make them potent adversaries.

I would imagine that, just like the Americans, they do practise a lot in dissimilar air combat maneuvering between units and with different Russian types they have acquired through different channels over the years.
Another thing which can be taken into consideration is the fact that Turkey and Israel do work closely together which has probably allowed them to be very familiar with American tactics. I do believe that Israeli pilots are far less restricted in their ROEs which allows them to take the initiative much sooner which is why they posted such results against USN and UASF crews. With so little information available on Israeli training, it is hard to make a valid argumentbut this is what I have deduced in recent years. Let’s not forget that Israel and Syria continually exchange blows on a regular basis with several engagement having taken place in the last couple of years.

Crews from the 23rd FS/52nd Fw deployed to Nevatnim AB in 1999 to engage in various exercises against Israeli pilots. the American flew against the Double Tail squadron, which at the time flew the F-15A Baz. Once the dust settled, the kill ratio was in favor of the Israeli with the final tally sitting at 50 to 20. This was attributed to superior tactics used by the hosts, although one would have to think similar tactics would have been used by the Americans.
On the same token, the US Navy deployed three F-14Bs from VF-32 and nine F/A-18s from VFA-105 to Uvda AB for a period of four days. An average of three training hops were flown per day with both sides sending eight of their jets into the various engagements. At the end of the four day deployment, the final score stood at 200 to 11 in favor of the IDF/AF. The host squadron was the Golden Eagle, a unit equipped with F-16A Netz. This deployment took place in March of 1999.
I can safely say that Israeli crews are better trained than American fighter pilots and are allowed to display agressive tactics on the battlefield which is what makes them so effective. The Americans are really loosing their air superiority edge. One seems to forget that in the last twenty years, both the USAF and USN have only dealt with vastly inferior opponents. I am sure that if the United States military was to encounter a stronger foe, the air war would most likely last a little longer than we have seen in the past.