"Can the Sukhoi Su-30 have the edge over U.S. fighters..." Topic

…in aerial combat?.

"We recently explained how, 10 years ago, Exercise Cope India put the Indian Air Force Su-30 against U.S. Air Force F-15C jets with results that are still open to debate: since the drills took place during F-22 budget reviews, some analysts affirm the Air Force intentionally accepted the challenging ROE (Rules Of Engagement) to gain more Raptors. Others claim this version of the story was invented to try to save face after the Indians achieved an impressive 9:1 kill ratio.

Even if we might never know the truth, it's undeniable that, at least on paper, the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker has been one of the best Russian combat planes.

The Su-27 belongs to the same class of the U.S. F-14 and F-15, but unlike the American fighters it can fly at an angle of attack of 30 degrees and can also perform the "Pugachev Cobra"…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

No.

In the case outlined… at an exact bvr (beyond visual range) envelope, in a one on one fight, without other radar assets, with out of date American missiles long since replaced, and an expert pilot … possibly.

Fool, you forgot to take into account the awesome "Pugachev Cobra"!

Meh, Pugachev Cobra…

Can it do this???

YouTube link

The Cobra is an impressive air-show maneuver that is completely irrelevant in air combat.

Anyone going slow enough to pull the Cobra is dead meat in a dogfight.

I have some issues with this article.

1. Pugachev Cobra assertion. Yes, an impressive maneuver. However, it demonstrates the relative control ability of the aircraft at odd angles of attack and/or slow speed handling, etc. As a combat maneuver specifically, it is relatively useless unless the fight gets close, slow, and stupid. The F22 is not a dogfighter. It can dogfight, but it was supposed to never get into a fight in the first place. That was supposed to be the F35 realm…which I guess is under some serious questions.

2. Assertions from commenters at article site. There seems to be a repetitive concept that dogfighting is a "thing of the past." Dogfighting is never going to be a thing of the past and the posters making such assertions obviously have never studied aviation history or know very little about how quickly things fall apart in a combat scenario. The nation that ignores any tool in the toolbox loses. Period.

3. The F-15 is an old fighter. With an old radar. With an old weapon (in this case, AIM-9m). Versus a fighter with vectoring, increased weapons envelopes, etc. Not a fair comparison.

However, things in warfare are never fare. The F-15 just sucks. It was king for its time. It needs updating to remain competitive. What should be done is update the airframe with off-shelf tech available from the F-22 development as compliment wherever possible to fill gaps in the disastrous procurement that was the F22/F35 combo fail. Enter Boeing's Silent Eagle proposal. It is a reasonable start. Just because the F-15 is old does not mean less of a threat. It just needs a bit of TLC to get it up to snuff.

The F-15 just sucks??? Man, what are you smoking??? The Eagle, especially in the battlespace shaped by USAF, is still a dominant fighter. It is still far more than the vast majority of the world's air forces can handle. NONE have been shot down in A2A combat. NONE.

The F-15 just sucks??? Those few words demonstrate that your knowledge of the subject matter is flawed at best.

I think he's referring to it's current state of fit. Outdated avionics and weapons. The engines are strong but, better engines exist and are already proven.

Better radar, jamming gear and weapons could make that already solid airframe into a better overall fighter… Giving it a more potent engine (god forbid vectored thrust) and you have one that can more than hold it's own in a fight.

Stuff two of the F22's engines into an F15 and you're probably going to have to give it a speed limiter.

The current F15C/Ds have been flying long enough for the sons of their early pilots to be flying them. Frankly, it's possible that some of the grandsons of their pilots are flying them. This assumes a relatively senior pilot with a ~10yo son back in 1979 or early 1980s, son first flying an F15C in 1991, with the grandson starting to fly the F15C in 2013.

I'm reasonably sure the USAF wouldn't issue a press release over this, but I do know that the USAF did issue a press release when the son of an early pilot was flying his dad's airplane.

Depends on the circumstances and especially inclusion of AWACS.

In recent exercises between Polish MiG-29s and Polish F-16s (they operate both), the scores were about even overall – F-16 had slight advantage in BVR, whereas the MiG-29 was better in the WVR spectrum.

F-16 advantage in BVR (including AMRAAM) was not enough to prevent a close in furball (not enough "kills" versus skilled MiG pilots).

Once a NATO E-3 AWACS was thrown into the mix, all MiG-29s were "shot down" at long range.