Hari in Canada
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Re: Fighter Gap (PAF)- a must read
It is worth posting this analysis by an US observer of IAF.
This article was published in the magazine"Inside the Air Force" looks like a US online publication with access only to subscribers. Hence no URL is available.
Inside The Air ForceJune 4, 2004Pg. 1USAF: Indian Exercises Showed
Need For F/A-22, Changes In TrainingA recent exercise with the Indian
Air Force is causing U.S. Air Force officials to re-evaluate the way
the service trains its fighter pilots while bolstering the case for
buying the F/A-22 as a way to ensure continued air dominance for the
United States, according to service officials.The surprising
sophistication of Indian fighter aircraft and skill of Indian pilots
demonstrated at the Cope India air combat exercise Feb. 15 through 27
at Gwalior Air Force Station, India, should provide a reality check
for those who had assumed unquestioned U.S. air superiority, service
officials who participated in the exercise said this week. The event
was the first-ever air combat exercise involving the U.S. and India
and the most active bilateral military exchange in over 40 years,
according to these officials."The major takeaway for the Air Force is
that our prediction of needing to replace the F-15 with the F/A-22 is
proving out as we get smarter and smarter about other [countries']
capabilities around the world and what technology is limited to in
the F-15 airframe," said Col. Mike Snodgrass, commander of the 3rd
Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base, AK. "We've taken [the F-15] about
as far as we can and it's now time to move to the next generation."
Snodgrass, who has been selected to receive his first star, and two
other wing officials spoke with Inside the Air Force June 2.The Air
Force has been arguing the absolute necessity of the F/A-22 since the
program began. But the performance of the Indians in direct
competition against the Air Force's best fighter, the F-15C, was
particularly striking evidence of an endangered U.S. lead in air
combat capability, the statements of service officials indicate.Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper told the Senate Appropriations
defense subcommittee in March that the results of Cope India were
"very revealing," although he declined to elaborate in a public
forum. Privately, other senior service officials have pointed to Cope
India as evidence that continued U.S. air superiority is dependent on
the F/A-22.Although service officials have been reluctant to detail
how the Indians performed against the six F-15Cs from the 3rd Wing
that participated in Cope India, Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) said in
a Feb. 26 House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing that U.S.
F-15Cs were defeated more than 90 percent of the time in direct
combat exercises against the IAF.Officials from the 3rd Wing at
Elmendorf did not provide specifics about how their aircraft fared,
but said the experience is causing the service to reevaluate the way
it trains its pilots for air-to-air operations."What happened to us
was it looks like our red air training might not be as good because
the adversaries are better than we thought," Snodgrass said. "And in
the case of the Indian Air Force both their training and some of
their equipment was better than we anticipated.""Red air" refers to
the way the Air Force simulates enemy capability in air combat
training. Because the service has assumed for years that its fighters
are more capable than enemy aircraft, the U.S. pilots that simulate
the enemy, known as "red" forces, in air combat training are required
to operate under rules that constrain their combat capability."We
have always believed that our technology was superior to everyone
else's technology, that we would fight a somewhat inferior adversary,
so we have had to supply a simulated adversary from our own
resources; we call that 'red air,'" Snodgrass said.As a result, Air
Force pilots are used to flying against an enemy whose combat
capability is deliberately limited."There are maneuvering limits as
well as weapons employment limits, what we believe enemy aircraft may
be able to do with their weapons systems, so we try to simulate that
in our own airplane with our own weapons," Snodgrass explained. "It
becomes very complex because instead of using the airplane the way it
was designed, you now have to come up with rules of thumb that limit
what you do and cause you to not perform . . . the way we really
would want to in combat."The Cope India exercises consisted of air
combat maneuvers in which pilots would practice their fighter tactics
and fly against each other one-on-one, as well as simulated combat
scenarios. It was during this simulated combat, which included both
"offensive counterair" and "defensive counterair" scenarios, that the
Indians proved the most formidable, according to the 3rd Wing
officials. In the offensive counterair scenarios, a small number of
F-15Cs would attempt to intercept an enemy strike aircraft en route
to a target that was guarded by a larger number of Indian fighters.
In the defensive counterair missions, the F-15s would attempt to
defend a target against Indian fighters.In these offensive and
defensive missions, four F-15Cs were usually flying against 10 or 12
of the same model Indian fighter, according to Col. Greg Neubeck,
deputy commander of operations for the wing's 3rd Operations Group
and exercise director for Cope India. The 3rd Operations Group is
responsible for the 3rd Wing's flying mission.The Indians flew a
number of different fighters, including the French-made Mirage 2000
and the Russian-made MIG-27 and MIG-29, but the two most formidable
IAF aircraft proved to be the MIG-21 Bison, an upgraded version of
the Russian-made baseline MIG-21, and the SU-30K Flanker, also made
in Russia, Neubeck said. He emphasized the fact that U.S. forces were
always outnumbered in these scenarios, but said the missions proved
more difficult than expected."What we faced were superior numbers,
and an IAF pilot who was very proficient in his aircraft and smart on
tactics. That combination was tough for us to overcome," Neubeck
said.One reason the Indian pilots proved so formidable is that their
training regimen does not include a concept of "red air." Instead,
"they fly pretty much blue-on-blue . . . [a] full-up airplane with no
restrictions against somebody else's airplane with no restrictions,
and that leads to more proficiency with your aircraft," Neubeck
said.In addition to reinforcing the need for the F/A-22, therefore,
Cope India demonstrated that the service might be able to immediately
improve its air combat capability by changing the way Air Force
pilots train."The Air Force is re-examining, from what I can
understand, our concept of red air and how we might be able to
provide red air to our fighter forces so that we get [the best]
training we can afford," Snodgrass said.Neubeck said the service
probably needs to "take off the handcuffs that we put on our red air
training aids and allow them to be more aggressive and make the red
air tougher than we have in the past."Although India is a friendly
nation, the lesson of Cope India is that almost any nation could
surpass the United States' air combat capability if the Pentagon does
not continue to invest in better training and technology, the
Elmendorf officials said. At last count, for example, there were over
5,000 MIG-21s active in air forces around the world, Snodgrass said.
Even American fighters, such as Boeing's F-15, are being sold in
upgraded versions to countries around the world."I believe what this
demonstrates is that the capacity exists out there for any nation
with the appropriate resources and the will to acquire technology and
to train their aircrews to be very, very capable," said Col. Russ
Handy, commander of the 3rd Operations Group. "In the long term this
could occur in nations outside of the Indian Air Force."The Air Force
will get another chance to test its capabilities against the Indians
in July, when the IAF will bring its Jaguar fighter-bomber aircraft
to Eielson AFB, AK, for the Cooperative Cope Thunder exercise. The
3rd Wing officers said their pilots had not yet flown against an
Indian-piloted Jaguar.-- Hampton Stephens
It is worth posting this analysis by an US observer of IAF.
This article was published in the magazine"Inside the Air Force" looks like a US online publication with access only to subscribers. Hence no URL is available.
Inside The Air ForceJune 4, 2004Pg. 1USAF: Indian Exercises Showed
Need For F/A-22, Changes In TrainingA recent exercise with the Indian
Air Force is causing U.S. Air Force officials to re-evaluate the way
the service trains its fighter pilots while bolstering the case for
buying the F/A-22 as a way to ensure continued air dominance for the
United States, according to service officials.The surprising
sophistication of Indian fighter aircraft and skill of Indian pilots
demonstrated at the Cope India air combat exercise Feb. 15 through 27
at Gwalior Air Force Station, India, should provide a reality check
for those who had assumed unquestioned U.S. air superiority, service
officials who participated in the exercise said this week. The event
was the first-ever air combat exercise involving the U.S. and India
and the most active bilateral military exchange in over 40 years,
according to these officials."The major takeaway for the Air Force is
that our prediction of needing to replace the F-15 with the F/A-22 is
proving out as we get smarter and smarter about other [countries']
capabilities around the world and what technology is limited to in
the F-15 airframe," said Col. Mike Snodgrass, commander of the 3rd
Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base, AK. "We've taken [the F-15] about
as far as we can and it's now time to move to the next generation."
Snodgrass, who has been selected to receive his first star, and two
other wing officials spoke with Inside the Air Force June 2.The Air
Force has been arguing the absolute necessity of the F/A-22 since the
program began. But the performance of the Indians in direct
competition against the Air Force's best fighter, the F-15C, was
particularly striking evidence of an endangered U.S. lead in air
combat capability, the statements of service officials indicate.Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper told the Senate Appropriations
defense subcommittee in March that the results of Cope India were
"very revealing," although he declined to elaborate in a public
forum. Privately, other senior service officials have pointed to Cope
India as evidence that continued U.S. air superiority is dependent on
the F/A-22.Although service officials have been reluctant to detail
how the Indians performed against the six F-15Cs from the 3rd Wing
that participated in Cope India, Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) said in
a Feb. 26 House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing that U.S.
F-15Cs were defeated more than 90 percent of the time in direct
combat exercises against the IAF.Officials from the 3rd Wing at
Elmendorf did not provide specifics about how their aircraft fared,
but said the experience is causing the service to reevaluate the way
it trains its pilots for air-to-air operations."What happened to us
was it looks like our red air training might not be as good because
the adversaries are better than we thought," Snodgrass said. "And in
the case of the Indian Air Force both their training and some of
their equipment was better than we anticipated.""Red air" refers to
the way the Air Force simulates enemy capability in air combat
training. Because the service has assumed for years that its fighters
are more capable than enemy aircraft, the U.S. pilots that simulate
the enemy, known as "red" forces, in air combat training are required
to operate under rules that constrain their combat capability."We
have always believed that our technology was superior to everyone
else's technology, that we would fight a somewhat inferior adversary,
so we have had to supply a simulated adversary from our own
resources; we call that 'red air,'" Snodgrass said.As a result, Air
Force pilots are used to flying against an enemy whose combat
capability is deliberately limited."There are maneuvering limits as
well as weapons employment limits, what we believe enemy aircraft may
be able to do with their weapons systems, so we try to simulate that
in our own airplane with our own weapons," Snodgrass explained. "It
becomes very complex because instead of using the airplane the way it
was designed, you now have to come up with rules of thumb that limit
what you do and cause you to not perform . . . the way we really
would want to in combat."The Cope India exercises consisted of air
combat maneuvers in which pilots would practice their fighter tactics
and fly against each other one-on-one, as well as simulated combat
scenarios. It was during this simulated combat, which included both
"offensive counterair" and "defensive counterair" scenarios, that the
Indians proved the most formidable, according to the 3rd Wing
officials. In the offensive counterair scenarios, a small number of
F-15Cs would attempt to intercept an enemy strike aircraft en route
to a target that was guarded by a larger number of Indian fighters.
In the defensive counterair missions, the F-15s would attempt to
defend a target against Indian fighters.In these offensive and
defensive missions, four F-15Cs were usually flying against 10 or 12
of the same model Indian fighter, according to Col. Greg Neubeck,
deputy commander of operations for the wing's 3rd Operations Group
and exercise director for Cope India. The 3rd Operations Group is
responsible for the 3rd Wing's flying mission.The Indians flew a
number of different fighters, including the French-made Mirage 2000
and the Russian-made MIG-27 and MIG-29, but the two most formidable
IAF aircraft proved to be the MIG-21 Bison, an upgraded version of
the Russian-made baseline MIG-21, and the SU-30K Flanker, also made
in Russia, Neubeck said. He emphasized the fact that U.S. forces were
always outnumbered in these scenarios, but said the missions proved
more difficult than expected."What we faced were superior numbers,
and an IAF pilot who was very proficient in his aircraft and smart on
tactics. That combination was tough for us to overcome," Neubeck
said.One reason the Indian pilots proved so formidable is that their
training regimen does not include a concept of "red air." Instead,
"they fly pretty much blue-on-blue . . . [a] full-up airplane with no
restrictions against somebody else's airplane with no restrictions,
and that leads to more proficiency with your aircraft," Neubeck
said.In addition to reinforcing the need for the F/A-22, therefore,
Cope India demonstrated that the service might be able to immediately
improve its air combat capability by changing the way Air Force
pilots train."The Air Force is re-examining, from what I can
understand, our concept of red air and how we might be able to
provide red air to our fighter forces so that we get [the best]
training we can afford," Snodgrass said.Neubeck said the service
probably needs to "take off the handcuffs that we put on our red air
training aids and allow them to be more aggressive and make the red
air tougher than we have in the past."Although India is a friendly
nation, the lesson of Cope India is that almost any nation could
surpass the United States' air combat capability if the Pentagon does
not continue to invest in better training and technology, the
Elmendorf officials said. At last count, for example, there were over
5,000 MIG-21s active in air forces around the world, Snodgrass said.
Even American fighters, such as Boeing's F-15, are being sold in
upgraded versions to countries around the world."I believe what this
demonstrates is that the capacity exists out there for any nation
with the appropriate resources and the will to acquire technology and
to train their aircrews to be very, very capable," said Col. Russ
Handy, commander of the 3rd Operations Group. "In the long term this
could occur in nations outside of the Indian Air Force."The Air Force
will get another chance to test its capabilities against the Indians
in July, when the IAF will bring its Jaguar fighter-bomber aircraft
to Eielson AFB, AK, for the Cooperative Cope Thunder exercise. The
3rd Wing officers said their pilots had not yet flown against an
Indian-piloted Jaguar.-- Hampton Stephens
