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ACIG Exclusives
Chapter 7 : A Pair o' Dice |
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| A few years ago, no one would have thought that the largest foreign participant in 2005, especially in terms of aircraft on display, would be the USA. Since Aero India 1996, when two F-15Cs from the Pacific Air Force's 3rd Wing at Elmendorf AFB and a C-130 from the Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing, participated, relations had gone relatively sour following the 1998 Nuclear tests and the resultant sanctions. Nine years after the very first Aero India, the Americans were back in full strength with two F-15Es, one P-3C, one KC-135, one C-130J and one experimental Bell 407. Despite all this, the public still wanted to see F-16s! Seems that they were requested, considered, approved and later denied but why the latter happened, is anybody's guess. The delegation was generally tight-lipped on this matter. | |
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SB-040 and SB-035 refuel in preparation for the next round of sorties. One may have noted the removal of the RWR and IFF aerials from the tailfin. The Tarang RWR's forward looking antennae are now housed in the leading edge while the aft facing antennae are in the ledge corners of the tail sting. The aircraft carries both internal and external Self-Protection-Jammers (SPJs), of the Elta EL/L-8222 type. |
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The canards, manufactured by HAL and supplied to IRKUT for assembly, were always in this position and were seldom used. |
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An American delegation from the 90th SF, 3rd Wing, arrives for a tour of the Su-30MKI while the other moves off for another display run. There will be another 'Cope India' exercise, this year or the next, and will most probably involve aircraft from the same 3rd Wing that so often comes to India. |
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Meet our "new" best friends. A delegate from Elemendorf's 90th FS, 3rd Wing, poses in front of the Su-30MKI. Defence cooperation seems to have taken a giant leap over the years. Whether this would eventually extend to equipment purchases, remains to be seen. |
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The F-15E pilots have no previous experience with the Su-30 and this is the first time they're checking one out but they somehow seem to be already aware of the indigenous equipment, namely the radar computers, aboard the Russian aircraft. Fl.lt. Pratyush explains the cockpit operations to his guest. |
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The Thales VEH-3000 HUD with it's dual combiner does'nt seem to "look" as impressive as the F-15E's frameless, single-piece Kaiser/Rockwell Collins HUD, also used on the SAAB Gripen. The use of a dual combiner system does result in accurate symbol placement, improved velocity vectors and improved vertical FoV, though. |
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SB-040 takes off for yet another sortie. The distinctive roar of the Al-31FP would easily humble any western engined fighter to a corner. No.30 only recently equipped with the MKI and without doubt, have some way to go before they master their aircraft like No.24 and No.20. |
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At least one Su-30MKI and one Su-30K participated in joint exercise 'SINDEX' with the RSAF at Gwalior. Having noted the one-sided result of Cope India, the Singaporeans did their homework and came fully prepared. The result was a more balanced outcome, although one Russian magazine had noted that the F-16 was totally outclassed by the Flanker. |
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Such a large fighter floating like a butterfly in the air, performing high alpha maneuvers, loops and turns with no effort or acceleration, makes for a truly exceptional sight. The Su-30K is also impressive, once doing a 360° backward flip that one would have assumed that only the -MKI variant was capable of. |
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The F-15Es never flew during the show, apparently for some very stupid, political or economic reason. The pilots had really no concrete idea of why they couldn't take part in the flying display and guesswork prevailed. F-15Cs actually did take part in the air display during Aero India 1996. |
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It's now the USAF's turn. Crew stand in line as a senior IAF officer is shown the F-15E. These examples, 87-0183 and 89-0506, are from the 3rd Wing, 90th 'Pair-O-Dice' FS at Elemndorf, Alaska, also the home of the F-15Cs that took part in Cope India 2004 at Gwalior. |
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One of the F-15E pilots, Capt. Raja "Grinder" Chari, an Indian-American and a 1999 graduate of USAFA, had already left for Hyderabad to meet his relatives. Past joint exercises and meets between the two Armies and Navies had also seen the participation of similar servicemen of Indian-American origin. Coincidence? |
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The IAF officer is Air Marshal S Bhojwani, C in C of the IAF Training Command. The strength of the APG-70 radar is noted as it's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mapping and map freezing capability, with a resolution of "a few meters". |
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The two small pods in the rear are baggage and small spare part storage pods* used by pilots and technicians. The non-participation of the F-15E in the air display was horribly disappointing, with some media willing to go as far as to write theories behind their "grounding" that would force them to fly eventually. It didn't work. |
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89-0506 (C/N 1153/E128) is an F-15E-48-MC from Lot IV while the other, 87-0503 (C/N 1048/E023), is an F-15E-43-MC from Lot II, both examples only recently noted. One day after the show concluded, both F-15Es flew in formation with the three Su-30MKIs, including SB-036 with it's full loadout. That sort of thing should have been done during the inauguration! |
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| * Thanks to TomC for the Correction | |
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