SU-27 in West USA

[Vulture]

RUMOUR has it there is a SU-27 on the West Coast of USA.... any sightings?


V

[richkolasa]

Maybe Indian AF. They were here for the last Red Flag.

Rich

[Enemy Ace]

IIRC the USAF had a few 27's and MiG-29's @ Nellis at one point. The 29's were former east german AF types.
Somebody needs to get some pics!

[The Inspector]

There were some Indian SU-30's @ mountain Home a few weeks ago on an exercise, they pretty much got their fannies wiped by some 'Artic Foxes'

[Mike Bates]

Indian SU-30's were at Red Flag. Pic's can be seen here, scroll down to post #9.

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/ind ... l=red+flag

Mike

[Randy Haskin]

IIRC the USAF had a few 27's and MiG-29's @ Nellis at one point. The 29's were former east german AF types.
Somebody needs to get some pics!

The MiG-29s at Nellis (static display, not flying) are ex Moldovian aircraft. There are no Flankers at Nellis.

[warbird1]

Mig-29's and Su-27's flying over Groom Lake:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3l08tgVSjIU

*WARNING - IF YOU WATCH IT, I WILL HAVE TO KILL YOU*

[Randy Haskin]

There were some Indian SU-30's @ mountain Home a few weeks ago on an exercise, they pretty much got their fannies wiped by some 'Artic Foxes'

It's impossible to draw any conclusions like that from either the InAF's time at Mountain Home or Nellis.

The purpose of going to Mountain Home in the first place was simply to get them ready to fly and fight the following month at Nellis for Red Flag. It was what we call a "spin up", or a time of preparation for something big, like an exercise or deployment.

Since the airspace is so crowded at Red Flag, the "admin" of simply getting airplanes to and from the NTTR range is something that has to be executed perfectly by the units playing in the exercise. Since airspace comms and procedures are different in India than they are in the US, the Indians needed an opportunity to get their bearings on how to fly in the US before they were thrown into the frying pan at Nellis.

Second, the "game play" at Red Flag -- in other words, the rules and standards that US and coalition forces use to simulate fights -- is also something that has to be known and executed perfectly by participating units. Squadrons have been sent home from Red Flag for being buffoons, and not knowing how to call shots in flight, how to assess kills in flight, and how to communicate that information to the "referees" who are watching the whole thing.

Even as someone who has been to Red Flag twice previously, I spend time studying the admin of flying to-and-from before I even go to Nellis. My squadron dedicates specific training at home practicing how to "play the game" both in flight and in the detailed post-flight debriefs before the trip to Nellis for the exercise. That way we don't end up looking like idiots in front of all the other assembled units at the exercise if we don't know what we're doing. It's a VERY big deal...a bigger deal even than the tactical success of what happens during the exercise.

So, the whole point of the Indians going to Mountain Home was to figure out the basics of how to operate and play at Red Flag. Anything "tactical" about their time there was completely secondary.

Saying they got their butts kicked ("fanny" means something completely different over here in the UK, so it's not a 'nice' substitute for butt) on their deployment to MHAFB is a little like saying a fooball team got beat when it was scrimmaging against the local rugby team in order to figure out how to play rugby.

[Vulture]

Apparently this (these) ... (not sure how many but suspect just one.)are in the US and are civil. I checked the N reg and did not see anything, however if it is a government (public use) reg aircraft would it even need an N number?

The rumour come from a rather reliable source and I am sure it is not India.

V

[The Inspector]

Randy,
Perhaps so, but my friend, mr widgeon, was more than a bit surprized to find 2 Arctic Fox F-16's @ what amounted to an enlarged fly-in in Idaho. When he inquired of the pilots what they were doing there, they both said that they had cleaned house on the Indian SU-30's and their boss was so pleased that, as long as it didn't involve trips to houses of ill repute, he was authorizing all sorts of stuff. I understand one of the pilots was from the area the show was in, and they got blessed to attend the airshow.

As far as the language thing, I've already had a couple of run ins with the filters on this site, if anyone was offended perhaps now they will understand why cars and products now carry dumbed down non sensical number/letter combos and why EXXON is named how it is-and you should rotate back home before you completely forget how to speak Pacific Northwestern

[Randy Haskin]

they both said that they had cleaned house on the Indian SU-30's and their boss was so pleased that, as long as it didn't involve trips to houses of ill repute, he was authorizing all sorts of stuff. I understand one of the pilots was from the area the show was in, and they got blessed to attend the airshow.

They must be so proud of themselves.

[The Inspector]

You can always tell a fighter pilot,






























you just can't tell him much

[Randy Haskin]

You can always tell a fighter pilot,
you just can't tell him much

My point is, there is a difference between hangar flying bravado and reality.

I have no doubt that some of the Elmendorf Aggressors whacked some of the Indian Flankers. H3ll, they might have absolutely destroyed them on every single engagement, I don't know.

Regardless, it's no measure of anyone's actual skill due to the situation in which it occurred.

[gale_dono]

IIRC the USAF had a few 27's and MiG-29's @ Nellis at one point. The 29's were former east german AF types.
Somebody needs to get some pics!

The MiG-29s at Nellis (static display, not flying) are ex Moldovian aircraft. There are no Flankers at Nellis.

Does that mean the MiG-29 at the NMUSAF is really ex-VVS?

[The Inspector]

Sorry Randy, but I took your reply as being snotty and superior, or jealous that you couldn't have participated.