keith_w wrote:
Adam Maas wrote:
Not anymore, the first F-22 squadron stood up a few month ago, and
the latest Sukhoi's are better 1v1 as well (But due to the US's
better pilots, better missiles and integration between AWACS and the
fighters, 1v1 capability means a lot less than it used to).
-Adam
Scuse me, Adam, but this ol' plow horse doesn't recognize what a
Sukhoi is...
keith
Well, except for this site I just found, that is...
http://www.aeronautics.ru/t60s01.htm
Here:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/airdef/su-27.htm
That's the original version,
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/su-30.htm
Covers the later variants. It's the Su-35 I was referring to as superior
to the F-15 1v1.
Interesting note, but the Su-27 stunned the world at the Paris Airshow
in the late 1980's when a Russian Pilot named Pugachev pulled a show
manoever now called Pugachev's Cobra, by rotating the nose of the Su-27
past 90 degrees vertical while maintaining level controlled flight. It's
an imprssive manoever, and the Su-27 remains the only frontline fighter
to be that manoeverable without vectored thrust.
The weakness of the Sukhoi's is that there isn't an AWACS solution
available for them which is capable of datalink. US F-15's almost never
actually use their radar to track targets, or engage them, relying on a
datalink from a nearby AWACS, which provides them with all of their
targetting data. Thus they don't reveal their presence until they've
fired. Combined with the AIM-120AMRAAM missile, with a 54 mile
engagement range, the F-15 can usually engage and kill its target before
it has been localized, the same goes for any US fighter currently in use
(The F-16, F-18, F-18E Super Hornet[which is actually almost entirely
different from a plain F-18 Hornet and much more capable] and F-22).
The only non-US fighter which can engage beyond close range without
radar is the MiG-29, which is equipped with a video camera in the nose
that can be used for medium range tracking, much like the long-retired
F-14A had. And even then, it's only at much shorter ranges.
-Adam
