Zephyr Net

FAS is a very weak site to use as a referrence... Considering they posted pics of Typhoon Eurofighters as J-10s(amongst other major errors)! lol...

Really though, their data is suspect, at best...

A much more reliable referrence would be Janes Defense or the USNI (very expensive) database...

CAG out...

FAS is a perfectly resonable place to go for a vast array of info all compiled into one site, I go there quite frequently but they DO get things wrong once in a while. So ALWAYS GOOGLE and check it out elsewhere too.

The SU-30 is the proto for all the other SU-30XXX series, very small differances except for the canard and thrust vectoring models.

( I'm doing this all off the top of my head so be advised lol )

OK first thing is that the SU-35 and SU-37 are (as I recall ) the very same plane. 35 is the single seater with canards, then they took that same plane and added thrust-vectoring and called it the SU-37 ( I believe they then took the vector nozzles off and went back to calling it the 35). They apparently only built the one example. They have NO plans to produce it, in fact Sukhoi apparently believes the thrust vectoring is now pointless, the SU-30MKI for Indonisia looks like it will be the only example of the canards and TV to make any production. Sukhoi says they have tweaked the FBW enough that there is SO little differance between the regular airframe and the canard/TV frame that they wont develope it further but if some country really wants it they would build it for them.

ok, F-15 verses the world.
The key phrases there are: "which are variously superior" and "in several respects " point being that NONE of them are superior to F-15C in all aspects. The Flanker is larger heavier and draggier than F-15. Eagle beats it in all aspects of acceleration including pure verticle, just check the numbers they're pretty badly in favor of Eagle. Flanker IS more manueverable at low to medium altitude because F-15 bleeds off airspeed more quickly at those altitudes. Up high that big delta shape wing gets much more efficient and cleans the Flankers clock. We dont know if they were allowing the fictional MiGs and Sukhois to use the helmet mounted sight ( they almost certainly were) that alone would make all the differance in a dogfight. BTW TV does nothing for maneuverability at higher speeds only when going slow and close to a stall.
The idea that the Flanker RADAR is superior to Eagle is absolutely laughable, raw power does NOT a superior RADAR make! With it's superior RWR gear the Eagle driver would be WELL aware of a long range SARH missle launch and would have LOTS of time to notch and ECM the missle to death ( Flanker cant even use its RWR and RADAR at the same time due to interferance). If the Flanker closes to within AMRAAM rage it's all over, AMRAAM has considerable ECCM capability and is gloriously close to a one shot one kill missle, I'm quite sure it is electronically superior to "AMRAAMski" and if anyone knows how to beat our own AMRAAM it's the USAF and Navy.

I havent done ANY FM work on the Typhoon so all I can say is it uses a HUGE amount of composits (about as much percentage-wise as the V-22 Osprey) and it MAY WELL out accelerate the Eagle and that big delta should match F-15 quite well at altitude.

Rafale is in a similar league with Typhoon, I would place Typhoon ahead of rafale in most/all respects. Typhoone is probobly much stealthier than rafale.

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Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

Okay, thanks for clarifying on all those points. F-15 is one of my favorites, and I was nearly heartbroken when I read FAS's writeup that the Su-27P is much better than the F-15.

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AIM120S - The Electrician

You are very wrong there Kap....

If you are relying on FAS for information on your FMs then they will be in need so major help...

The majority of information on FAS is heresay...

The majority of referrences they claim to use are either patently wrong on their statements, or do not exist at all...

CAG out...

geee, and I thought you actually liked all the work I've been doing for you. Oh well, live and learn.

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Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

Raptor Unwrapped



http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_awst_story.jsp?id=news/05244wna.xml

Zephyr

Wow Zeph, nice find. I like the sound of that now I just hope Congress does too.

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Centurian

Uncool parts:

The tone of the conversations was sharpened by a still-unreleased report about the series of air combat training engagements earlier this year between Indian air force Su-30MKs and F-15Cs from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; the latter were equipped with the U.S.' newest long-range, high-definition radars.

Those who have read draft copies of the report say the Su-30MKs and F-15 pilots were seeing each other at the same time with their radars, but the Indian pilots were getting off the simulated first shot with their AA-10 Alamo missiles and often winning the long-range engagements.


Those factors are causing the U.S. to rethink the formula that they always will be facing less well-trained pilots and inferior weaponry. They also reinforce the argument that the U.S. needs a fighter with greater radar range (the F/A-22's is more than 100 naut. mi.), stealth (the F-15 has a huge radar cross section) and fused sensors so that pilots can easily grasp what's going on around them.







Cool parts:

F/A-22S ASSIGNED the cruise missile defense mission would carry at least six Amraams and possibly more when a compressed-carriage AIM-120 design is fielded, says J.R. McDonald, director of Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 program.



Some of the FB-22 derivative concepts being proposed by Lockheed Martin include both one- and two-seat options, with and without a vertical tail, McDonald said. The tailless version would be possible because the wing would be expanded and made large enough to carry sufficient flight control surfaces to provide adequate aerodynamic authority.

There will be an FB-22. HA! Hopefully the government will buy it, though.



Most intriguing about the F/A-22's future were hints from various sources that the fighter would have drastically improved electronic attack capability and would introduce computer network attack to its arsenal. Critics say some of the planning borders on the fanciful. Officials have acknowledged that the F/A-22's AESA radar has a projected capability to concentrate its transmission power onto a narrow spot--most likely the electronic radars and communication links associated with air defenses--with enough focus to jam them. The Thor jamming system is to be active in 2008. Those working on improvements say that with the addition of radar cheek arrays to the aircraft in 2010, it would be able to focus enough energy in a beam to actually damage electronic components in enemy sensors.

supercool


new, 200-naut.-mi. AESA radar

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AIM120S - The Electrician

uncool? Doubtful, considering that the only combat experience the AA-10 has had shows a less then 1/10 of 1% actually hit their targets in a combat situation...

first shot doesnt matter to much, when you are firing a SARH missile and have to follow it in, you will be killed by the return fire from the AMRAAM well before the Alamo can close as the defending fighter would have bugged out long before the Alamo arrived...

Also as far as I can tell, the USAF has never had any training with Indian Airforce SU-30s...

I simply dont believe that article, how could the Indian Airforce pilots have so many hours on the SU-30s when they just started receiving them from the Russians after so many years of waiting and flying inferior versions...

Also the ALaskan F-15 pilots host combat training wings for simulated combat multiple times ofer the course of the year, I dont see how it would be possible for them to have less training time then any other airforce wing, much less countries airforce...

Instead this sounds like pure propaganda to get the F-22 past the cost cutters at the office of Management and Budget....

CAG out...

That exercise was called "Cope India 2004" and took place at the end of February/beginning of March this year at Gwalior Air Force station.

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With the new SU-30MKIs or the older SU-30MKs? The Indian Airforce was in the process of taking delivery of the MKIs to replace the older MKs they were using...

In response to FAS posting pics of the Eurofighter Typhoon as the J-10.

If you check that page, CAG, it wasn't updated since March of 2000.

This was before actual pictures of the J-10 were released. They posted the picture of the MiG-1.44 nose as possibly being part of J-10.

The picture of the Typhoon has obviously been alterred to look like a Chinese aircraft, and they made a mistake. It was probably all that was currently available at the time, and was close enough in concept for their purposes.

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AIM120S - The Electrician