India to deploy Sukhoi-30 jets on Pakistan border

[fatman17]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

India to deploy Sukhoi-30 jets on Pakistan border

* Also planning to deploy Sukhois on its north-eastern front with China

NEW DELHI: India has planned to progressively deploy its advanced Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft along its western border with Pakistan, the Times of India reported on Sunday.

According to the daily, the Indian Air Force has planned to deploy its most potent fighter jets to counter threats from Pakistan, which is in the process of obtaining F-16 aircraft from the United States and JF-17 Thunder jets from China. It has also planned to station aircraft at several bases on its north-eastern front with China.

Presently, India has positioned its Sukhois only at Pune, Jodhpur and Bareilly. They are also operated from the airbases in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Halwara.

India is expected to get fresh deliveries of the aircraft soon. The newspaper reported that the process to identify important airbases to station more squadrons was also underway.

Thus far, India has received 60 jets out of the total of 230 aircraft contracted from Russia at a cost of $8.5 billion. As many as 140 of the jets would be produced in India under licence by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The government has directed HAL to complete the project by 2013-2014, in view of a shortage of fighter squadrons.

The number of fighter squadrons in India is down to 32 from the “sanctioned” strength of 39. The Indian Air Force is also facing “poor serviceability” of its fleets consisting of MiG-21, MiG-27 and Jaguar aircraft.

The newspaper quoted Western Air Command (WAC) chief Air Marshal PK Barbora as saying, “Our assets have to be distributed all over the country in line with our operational thinking. After the east, the planning is to base Sukhois in our area of responsibility.”

As many as 18 important airbases, including Srinagar, Leh, Thosie, Awantipur, Ambala, Amritsar, Halwara and Nal are under the control of the WAC. However, several of them require new squadrons to maintain their operational readiness. The Halwara airbase houses the old and accident-prone MiG-23s, which are being phased out. app

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

masha'Allah, I'd like to congratulate the PAF for a job well done.

I remember hearing the indian air chief, "pakistan's F-16, JF-17, and J-10 do not worry the IAF."

or like when we heard that the JF-17 was nothing compared to the Hal Tejas, which by the way isn't coming, because of its 3rd generation airframe and lack of composites.

masha'Allah, our air force has the "honour" of facing the "superior to every other aircraft" Su-30MKI.

 

[fatman17]

230 is a lot of aircraft and they have to be dispersed everywhere possible in india.

 

[TOPGUN]

Hahahaha love it fear is always in there eyes !!!!!!!!! when we are in the skys!!!!!!

 

[blain2]

It seems like normal planning. We all knew that eventually the MKIs were going to be deployed against Pakistan. Its better that they do so now so PAF can adequately plan against this threat.

 

[Owais]

but we will be having only 78 F-16 to counter MKI Threat. not even half of MKI numbers.

 

[HAIDER]

India has only 40 SU30 operational, numbers will be increase later on. And its regular strategic deployment.

 

[Energon]

I fail to see the alarm or the novelty of this report. The IAF procured the Su30MKI because their earlier fleets of Mig21 fighters and Mig27 bombers were nearing the end of their service life. Its only natural that the Sukhois would replace them.

 

[Kasrkin]

I think around 300 JF-17s will be enough for this threat, dont worry about the F-16s and J-10s, they are our 'extra' assets...Remember its always the man behind the gun.

 

[Myth_buster_1]

but we will be having only 78 F-16 to counter MKI Threat. not even half of MKI numbers.

78 F-16
38 J-10
Erieye and Y-8"AWACS"
All we need is a capable platform of firing BVR missiles with a help of AWACS and that will be enough to keep the MKIs at bay.
--------------MKI

 

[Owais]

India has only 40 SU30 operational, numbers will be increase later on. And its regular strategic deployment.

according to wiki, there are 80 mki.

38 J-10
Erieye and Y-8"AWACS"
All we need is a capable platform of firing BVR missiles with a help of AWACS and that will be enough to keep the MKIs at bay.
--------------MKI

not 38 bro its only 36
and we didn't place order of J-10 Because its avionics are yet to be decided. J-10 with AESA & TVC will surely make difference

 

[CanadianPad]

Does anyone know how did the MKI's rate against the F-16's in COPE India 06?

 

[Khalsa]

I am posting these direct quotes from the US pilots who flew against MKI 's during COPE INDIA 2006.

The Su-30 can perform very well, especially with an experienced pilot who knows his airplane. Their squadron commander was an outstanding pilot whom we all respect deeply. If the Su-30 ever gets into WVR without being spotted (you can see the guy a looong way off), then you are going to have your hands full.

[...]


Pics from COPE India 2006 - Military Photos

Lastly, we were not there to show of the Viper so that they would buy it...again, there were mutual rules enforced based on notional weapons for both sides.. We flew against the IAF and with them against the USAF. We did our best in BFM and in everything else...I am sure that they are impressed with the USAF F-16s but whether or not we were there to sell them Vipers is way above my pay-grade. As for the MKIs, they only did BFM for a few days and then split. The MKI is the pride of their fleet and the SU-30ks are eventually going away. There were only a couple of pilots that flew against them and from what I am told it handled nicely. I am not sure of what I can talk about in that area.

[...]

As for flying hours, one of the Flanker pilots told me openly that he gets about 200 hours a year in the front seat...Their higher ranking dudes fly in the back seat and act as Mission Commanders.
I would feel comfortable against the MKI only in BVR...the thing has thrust vectoring for crying out loud

Having flow in mixed formations now with all of their jets i would say that they are very capable and probably the best air force in Asia. Some of their planes are old but the skill of the IAF pilots make them hold their own. I do think that the Viper holds up very well with most of them, however, because we are downright hard to see and our maneuverability is awesome. Getting slow with some of these jets is not advised

 

[melb4aust]

I would be wondering, whether this thrust vector control thing..TVC..will make any difference in 1-on-1 dogfight? lets suppose SU-30MKI vs F-16 block-52.

 

[blain2]

I am posting these direct quotes from the US pilots who flew against MKI 's during COPE INDIA 2006.

The Su-30 can perform very well, especially with an experienced pilot who knows his airplane. Their squadron commander was an outstanding pilot whom we all respect deeply. If the Su-30 ever gets into WVR without being spotted (you can see the guy a looong way off), then you are going to have your hands full.

[...]


Pics from COPE India 2006 - Military Photos

Lastly, we were not there to show of the Viper so that they would buy it...again, there were mutual rules enforced based on notional weapons for both sides.. We flew against the IAF and with them against the USAF. We did our best in BFM and in everything else...I am sure that they are impressed with the USAF F-16s but whether or not we were there to sell them Vipers is way above my pay-grade. As for the MKIs, they only did BFM for a few days and then split. The MKI is the pride of their fleet and the SU-30ks are eventually going away. There were only a couple of pilots that flew against them and from what I am told it handled nicely. I am not sure of what I can talk about in that area.

[...]

As for flying hours, one of the Flanker pilots told me openly that he gets about 200 hours a year in the front seat...Their higher ranking dudes fly in the back seat and act as Mission Commanders.
I would feel comfortable against the MKI only in BVR...the thing has thrust vectoring for crying out loud

Having flow in mixed formations now with all of their jets i would say that they are very capable and probably the best air force in Asia. Some of their planes are old but the skill of the IAF pilots make them hold their own. I do think that the Viper holds up very well with most of them, however, because we are downright hard to see and our maneuverability is awesome. Getting slow with some of these jets is not advised

There is more that Moose69 said about the engagements.

He even talked about the MKI vs Viper WVR engagements. The results were pretty encouraging for the viper community

Quote: Moose69

It really sucks to see the press break it down to "whos the best" or whether or not the F-16 is aging. The Vipers we flew just went through the most advanced upgrade there has been since the A model was released. It really doesn't matter what kind of technology we were flying with in that exercise because we were given certain ROEs by the Indians and the playing field was leveled by "making up" weapons to use.

If you want the true facts about the two BFM engagements between the MKIs and the F-16s, here you go: In one of the engagements the F-16 maneuvered from a defensive position to an offensive gun wez based on the "exercise" rules.

We sure didn't underestimate the IAF like the press is implying, we have been training for awhile. Any good fighter pilot trains to not underestimate anyone.

I was on the F-16.net thread when all this was being discussed (even chatted via PM with Moose69) and eventually Asif (mod at F-16.net) had to remove the thread due to certain sensitive information making out.