Jets & Planes but no UAV's here. - Page 47

redcoat2 · #**461** December 30th, 2017, 05:33 PM

Indian Air Force retires MiG-27 ML Bahadur, 12/2017.

obat 18. Unit 284.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indi...ahadur-1793734

https://www.oneindia.com/india/iaf-b...s-2611156.html

MarkSheppard · #**462** February 11th, 2018, 08:45 PM

China is claiming the J-20 is now in operational service, FWIW.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplo...es-combat-duty

Quote:

China’s J-20 stealth fighter has entered combat service, the country’s armed forces confirmed on Friday, expanding the military’s air power options as it presses on with a massive modernisation programme.

People’s Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke said the deployment of the J-20 to combat units would “help the air force better shoulder the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity”.

MarkSheppard · #**463** February 22nd, 2018, 08:34 PM

Oh dear, and now looks like Su-57 (aka T-50) is doing an early combat test in Syria:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...otted-in-syria

Quote:

Moscow appears to have deployed an advanced new stealth fighter to its airbase in Syria, reports in Russian news media and online videos of the aircraft indicated on Thursday, in what analysts say could be a risky attempt to gain publicity and operational experience for the jet in one of the world’s most tangled conflicts.

Their appearance comes at a fraught moment in the seven-year war, as the US and Russia occasionally scramble jets to intercept each other over Syria and pro-regime warplanes pound the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta despite protests from the UN. More than 330 people have been killed there since the bombing began on Sunday, according to reports.

The deployment of two Su-57 fighter aircraft, which were filmed landing at Russia’s Khmeimim airbase along the Mediterranean coast, would represent the latest high-tech military system Russia has exhibited in Syria, a conflict that has already been used to demonstrate the prowess of Russian cruise missiles and combat helicopters.

Both the Kremlin and the Russian ministry of defence declined to comment on whether the fifth-generation Russian fighter jets, which are still in combat testing phases, had been deployed. Russian news agencies, including the respected RBC business daily, published reports on Thursday saying sources in the ministry of defence had confirmed the presence of the advanced fighter jets in Syria.

The military had previously announced it would begin testing the fighters in combat. They have been touted as a future rival to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which the US uses in patrols over Syria.

Yuri Borisov, the deputy defence minister, said earlier in February: “We are buying Su-57 jets for test combat use. First stage state trials are over.”

US-led forces wounded and killed dozens of Russian mercenaries and pro-Assad militiamen earlier this month, in a battle near the city of Deir ez-Zor in which US drones and warplanes directly targeted Russians fighting on the government side for the first time in the war.

Russia has regularly used the conflict as a testing ground for its latest military technology and has even credited it for an uptick in arms sales. The Su-57, the first operational Russian jet to use stealth technology, has been plagued by cost and time overruns, and analysts said there could be a business rationale behind the deployment.

“There is some operational merit in doing this, but there’s also a publicity element,” said Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. He noted that a successful demonstration of the plane in Syria could assuage concerns of potential buyers such as the Indian government.

It is still unclear whether the aircraft could play any role in day-to-day operations. “We haven’t seen it fire anything. We haven’t seen it drop anything,” Barrie said.

Ruslan Pukhov, a defence analyst and the director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said it could be risky to deploy the new jets to Syria.

“If I were the minister of defence, I probably wouldn’t do it,” he said. “If you lose one of these planes, it could make for big problems. And what happens if the technology falls into the wrong hands?”

Suhiir · #**464** February 22nd, 2018, 10:11 PM

I suspect they primarily want a "field test" vs NATO (and particularly US) aircraft and radars.

Imp · #**465** February 23rd, 2018, 05:41 AM

Just that see where they are at, Russia claim to have used 127 new weapon systems in the recent conflicts. Many due for slight tweaks & refinements based on battlefield use that testing did not highlight. No more is it just use the cheap stuff they try it all & look at refining the tactics to use them.

FASTBOAT TOUGH · #**466** February 25th, 2018, 02:52 AM

I just knew it would happen and so before!!! I can finally get that improved A-10 I had to "keep in the can" and get it released. A-10's until 2025!!

https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...program-03187/
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...0-upgr-445784/

It'll get done. For the USAF to have a draft to finish the last 100 A-10 aircraft that are due for re-winging this late guarantee's the survival of the A-10 beyond the mid-2020's.

Regards,
Pat

DRG · #**467** February 25th, 2018, 08:28 AM

They are already in the game until 2025 so nothing changes

shahadi · #**468** February 26th, 2018, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

Oh dear, and now looks like Su-57 (aka T-50) is doing an early combat test in Syria:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...otted-in-syria

Quote:

Moscow appears to have deployed an advanced new stealth fighter to its airbase in Syria, reports in Russian news media and online videos of the aircraft indicated on Thursday, in what analysts say could be a risky attempt to gain publicity and operational experience for the jet in one of the world’s most tangled conflicts.

Their appearance comes at a fraught moment in the seven-year war, as the US and Russia occasionally scramble jets to intercept each other over Syria and pro-regime warplanes pound the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta despite protests from the UN. More than 330 people have been killed there since the bombing began on Sunday, according to reports.

The deployment of two Su-57 fighter aircraft, which were filmed landing at Russia’s Khmeimim airbase along the Mediterranean coast, would represent the latest high-tech military system Russia has exhibited in Syria, a conflict that has already been used to demonstrate the prowess of Russian cruise missiles and combat helicopters.

Both the Kremlin and the Russian ministry of defence declined to comment on whether the fifth-generation Russian fighter jets, which are still in combat testing phases, had been deployed. Russian news agencies, including the respected RBC business daily, published reports on Thursday saying sources in the ministry of defence had confirmed the presence of the advanced fighter jets in Syria.

The military had previously announced it would begin testing the fighters in combat. They have been touted as a future rival to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which the US uses in patrols over Syria.

Yuri Borisov, the deputy defence minister, said earlier in February: “We are buying Su-57 jets for test combat use. First stage state trials are over.”

US-led forces wounded and killed dozens of Russian mercenaries and pro-Assad militiamen earlier this month, in a battle near the city of Deir ez-Zor in which US drones and warplanes directly targeted Russians fighting on the government side for the first time in the war.

Russia has regularly used the conflict as a testing ground for its latest military technology and has even credited it for an uptick in arms sales. The Su-57, the first operational Russian jet to use stealth technology, has been plagued by cost and time overruns, and analysts said there could be a business rationale behind the deployment.

“There is some operational merit in doing this, but there’s also a publicity element,” said Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. He noted that a successful demonstration of the plane in Syria could assuage concerns of potential buyers such as the Indian government.

It is still unclear whether the aircraft could play any role in day-to-day operations. “We haven’t seen it fire anything. We haven’t seen it drop anything,” Barrie said.

Ruslan Pukhov, a defence analyst and the director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said it could be risky to deploy the new jets to Syria.

“If I were the minister of defence, I probably wouldn’t do it,” he said. “If you lose one of these planes, it could make for big problems. And what happens if the technology falls into the wrong hands?”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suhiir

I suspect they primarily want a "field test" vs NATO (and particularly US) aircraft and radars.

The English language, Times of Israel (timesofisrael.com) is reporting the deployment of the stealth jets as a veiled warning to Israel, "The deployment came with a covert warning to Israel by a Russian official, who said that the presence of the Su-57s will doubtlessly send a political message, serving as a deterrent “for aircraft from neighboring states, which periodically fly into Syrian airspace uninvited.”

Russia Today (RT.com) reports the deployment of the fighters to test radars and electronic warfare capabilities, "The trial will initially focus on electronic warfare and radar capabilities of the 5th-generation fighter jet, rather than its weapon systems," as other posters have noted.

Although the decision to trial the jets in Syria were reached after the MAKS 2017 airshow in July, the deployment, "...to Syria [comes] less than two weeks after US forces attacked (defended US allied forces) and devasted a group of pro-government forces, which included some Russian citizens.

Additionally, Russia has deployed four advanced Su-35s and an A-50U AWACS aircraft.

These reports and others could serve as excellent context for Syrian/Israeli/Russian/Iranian scenarios.

FASTBOAT TOUGH · #**469** February 26th, 2018, 10:54 PM

It's been reported those Russian planes especially the Su-35 which is Russia's most advanced fighter are in Syria for one main reason, the F-22. They are going and been trying to get the F-22 exposed as much as possible for ELINT electronics signals(Intelligence derived from electromagnetic radiations from foreign sources (other than radioactive sources)) and SIGINT signals intelligence (intelligence information gathered from communications intelligence or electronics intelligence or telemetry intelligence). This data to whatever extent they can collect it (If at all.) would be more than valuable in accessing the capabilities of their systems to include beyond aircraft, also ground tracking and FCS radars.

We are smart enough to know this and the F-22 fortunately doesn't need to be in the same airspace as the Russians, and they are hemmed in on the borders of Syria to some extent.

Saw a lot of this when we were in the MED during the summer of '87. They'd light up their radars and we'd do the same and I'm sure someone on both sides would be listening. While everyone played "chicken".

The Su-35S is and will be the backbone (Along with earlier mods.) of the Russian Air Force for many years to come. The Ministry of Defense has ordered more of those jets then it currently plans on for the PAK-FA/Su-57 which has lost some of it's "luster" and fallen out of the 5th GEN status due to cost savings to the program and other issues. India it's co-developer wasn't very happy about this citing I believe 17 or 20 changes that needed to be made to keep it in that status. Russia also self reported this themselves a couple of months back I believe. Anyway I posted that in here at the time I'm pretty sure. This fighter can at this moment be considered a 4th GEN +++ along with GRIPEN NG, and latest versions of the EUROFIGHTER and RAFALE. All those fighters are "Super Cruise" capable, more on that below. We know what's above them and everything else will trickle down from there starting with 4th GEN ++.

Game wise it probably will not be viable for the game. And there's plenty to support that.
http://www.businessinsider.com/russi...intment-2017-8
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the...-wont-be-23643

Su-35S...
This is their top fighter and is out there in numbers presently. Besides all the electronics onboard, this plane also has "thrust vectoring" which is a HUGE advantage in a fight and leaving one. Still trying to fully clarify (Looks like it does.) if it also processes "Super Cruise" (This is one of many factors that a true 5th GEN fighter MUST possess.) which basically means "after burner" speeds for a sustained period of time w/o the "burner" part, in other a much lower IR signature. Many outside of Russia, feel this fighter is probably overall, better than the F-35. Which is why we've been spending 100's of million dollars to upgrade the F-22 over the last several years.
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/su-35/
http://www.military-today.com/aircraft/su_35.htm

Well I'm going to relax the rest of this evening before as I intimated I start my "Balls-To-The-Walls" week.

Have a good week everyone!!

Regards,
Pat

RC4 · #**470** March 7th, 2018, 01:40 PM

Portuguese Air Force retires Alpha Jet fleet in January 2018
http://www.passarodeferro.com/2017/1...35-722017.html
Thanks