Russian Fighters for American Airforce/Navy: The only prudent solution!

Flight Journal. ^ | Robert W. Kress with Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist, U.S. Navy (Ret

[spetznaz]

Wow ...i had almost forgotten about that thread! Personally i prefer American fighters over Russian fighters (for rather obvious reasons) with two notable exceptions.

1)The F/A-18 A/B/C/D/E/F series hornet (actually according to one Navy pilot the more the series prgresses the worse the plane gets in several respects). I guess the reason for my angst towards the Hornet/Superhornet is because the F-14 TomCat (which i view as one of the greatest planes ever made) was put to sleep for the Hornet! And to make matters worse the tooling was destroyed! I hate when politics inteferes with good combat capability ....there is no way a Superhornet can compete with a F-14D ...and according to some sources there was even a tentative plan for a stealthy F-14 variant (intelligent stealth like the Raptors). However that could not eb allowed since it would remove all necessity for the JSF!

2) The other exemption is the Russian SU-27/30/33/35/37 variants! This is a jet that is truly one of the best in the world. According to several studies it is better than the F-15C.

I also think the MiG-29 is a very capable fighter that is much maligned in the west because Iraqi MiG-29s were shot down! Actually it is quite capable .....the Iraqi jets were 'monkey-model' variants flown by inept pilots and they were facing the USAF/USN with superior tech and integrated communication and targeting system, and very experienced pilots! The Iraqis did not have the slightest chance. However due to that outcome many on FR think the MiG (and hence the Sukhoi-30MKI) are bad aircraft.

The funny thing however is that if Indian SU-30MKIs (which have all the tech since Russia decided to sell India fulyl capable Sukhois) faced Pakistani F-16s (which were sold to them without the more capable combat suites and lack real BVR capability) what would happen is that the Pakistani F-16s would be massacred! Totally obliterated since for now the only missile the Pakistani F-16 variants pack is the Aim-9. Would that mean the F-16 is a useless fighter? The answer is no because US/Israeli F-16s are some of the most capable jets flying today ....the thing is just that the Pakistani versions were watered down.

However the same explanation is never given to Russian equipment.

Anyways personally i would take an F-15 anytime (obviously the F-22 is so superior there is no need to include it here). However given a choice between a SU-35 and a F-18E that would be such a simple choice that i would probably say my choice (the Sukhoi) in Russian!

Someone needs to be lynched for chosing the Hornet over a new F-14!

[Jeff Head]

We clearly (the US) should have modernized the F-14 and kept the AIM-54 until the ALRAAM was avaialble.

The F-22 needs to be produced in numbers, soon IMHO.

The SU-27M I referenced in my table is actually the SU-34 I believe. They are good aircraft, absolutely no doubt. The Chinese and the Indians are buying them in numbers. My book series explores all of this, but does it in a projected global combat situation.

I believe still that the F-15C's, the JSF (F-35), the F-22 and the F/A-18E/F will be winning combinations in terms of capability. When you couple those aircraft capabilities with the training of our polits, I do not believe any other aircraft will stand against them ... except through attrition. I believe we will face enemies willing to spend massive numbers of older aircraft to soak up our technical/missile advantage ... and then just keep on coming. What then?

For example, if a coalition of Islamic fundamentalist nations and China were to throw three hundred high performance aircraft (Mig-25, MIf-29, SU-27, SU-24, etc.)at Incerlik, what would happen? I believe we would get enough aircraft up to shoot down 150+ of them ... but if the others kept boring in, Incerlik could be destroyed.

Will we face such commitment and willingness to lose large numbers? I don't know. I do know we could. The Chinese were willing to lose seven divisions of men to move one American division off the fioeld at Chosin ... and they didn't turn tail and run or surrender when they faced horrendous losses. Thers' a lesson in that ... for both sides.

[Kenny Bunk]

The Russkis never throw any weapons systems away.

There are thousands of MiG-19 thru 21's out there, that if nothing else, will be in the way when anyone tries to get through to the newer stuff. On the ground, they don't throw away old tanks, they just dig'em in and use them as bunkers.

The long and the short of it is that our potential enemies have so much hardware; new, old, decrepit, wrecked, but still deadly and skillfully operated by people like the deaf old guys who fly Bear bombers on those three day missions from Vladisvostok to Havana and back..