USA Buys Russia’s Su-27 Jets From Ukraine to Find Out Why F-15 Is So Bad

[SQ8]

The Su-27 shouldn't be dissed at, it a a remarkable plane, but its performance is best <400 knots. While majority of engagements preferred by US forces are above that in the transonic region, most videos I have seen of Flanker aerobatics have been below that speed. The Su probably might have better acceleration than the eagle. You never know the ratio's until you fly em. Still the article is nationalist in nature. And seems to refer to the Tac air purchase which has more to do with providing realistic DACT than performance comparisons.

 

[Thomas]

The Su-27 shouldn't be dissed at, it a a remarkable plane, but its performance is best <400 knots. While majority of engagements preferred by US forces are above that in the transonic region, most videos I have seen of Flanker aerobatics have been below that speed. The Su probably might have better acceleration than the eagle. You never know the ratio's until you fly em. Still the article is nationalist in nature. And seems to refer to the Tac air purchase which has more to do with providing realistic DACT than performance comparisons.

your right the Su-27 is a great aircraft. I think what irked some was the obvious bias of the thread author. I also am not sure of the validity of the nature of the article. some of the things stated do not quite ring true as far as common sense is concerned. And I have not been able to find corroborating sources that it actually did. While the sale of the Su-27's is most likely true. That doesn't mean much since since the U.S. has always from time to time bought or traded for Russian equipment. I can not find one shred of truth in the supposed incident with the F-15's at Langley AFB.

What I do find is the same article repeated almost word for word by different sources. The aviation website MILAVIA lists every major event in the SU-27'S history and the Langley incident is not listed. I would think such a major milestone for the aircraft in beating F-15's would be heralded.

 

[Thomas]

The Pentagon purchased two Russian-made Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. The United States will reportedly use the Russian jets to train effective counter-operation efforts.


The Russian jets are a serious competition for the US F-15 fighters. The jets of Russia&#8217;s renowned Sukhoi design bureau proved to be more successful than their US competitors during a number of tests. The Pentagon has been trying to obtain the Russian warplanes, and Ukraine helped the nation do it legally.

The news about the deal between the USA and the Air Force of Ukraine appeared on the US-based website Strategypage.com. The website said that Russia&#8217;s Su-27 fighters were technically similar to F-15 jets, although the Russian planes were 30 percent cheaper.

Several Su-27 jets landed at Langley US air base in the summer of 1992, upon the agreement with the US side. Russian pilots examined F-15 jets at the base and proposed a simulated combat. The US pilots did not like the idea much: they thought that it would be too risky to hold the fight above the base in front of photographers and TV cameras. They eventually accepted the offer, but agreed to hold the mock fight above the Atlantic Ocean, 200 kilometers far from the coast.

The scheme of the mock fight was very simple. A Sukhoi was supposed to fly behind a US jet, and the planes were supposed to switch places with one another.

A US plane attempted to fly away from the Russian jet, but the Russian pilot caught up with the F-15 very easily. The planes switched places, and the Su-27 flew away from the F-15 making a turn and gaining altitude. The Russian jet found itself behind the American fighter a couple of minutes later. The F-125 pilot lost the Russian aircraft out of sight and could not escape from it afterwards: the Russian pilot was keeping the F-15 covered.

The F-15 lost another battle with Russia&#8217;s Su-27 in the autumn of 2000, during the US-Japanese drills in the Pacific Ocean. Two Su-27 jets, covering the Su-24MP, conducted a sudden attack of the flagship of the US 7th fleet, Kitty Hawk. The US aircraft carrier would have been destroyed in real combat conditions.

The US Defense Department is seriously concerned about the growing sales of Su-27 and Su-30 all over the world. Russia has been shipping these jets to India, China, Malaysia, Venezuela, Indonesia and Algeria for years.

Now the US purchased two Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. The US military command will now be able to study the phenomenon of Russia&#8217;s Sukhoi design bureau thoroughly.

USA Buys Russia&#8217;s Su-27 Jets From Ukraine to Find Out Why F-15 Is So Bad - Pravda.Ru

Here is a article I have found by a pilot stationed at Langley AFB who few F-15's. he says the incident NEVER took place. He also lists what did take place when the Russians visited the base.

 

[moha199]

The Russian Aircraft is always more preferred than the Americans... The Worldwide users of the Russian planes is way too higher as compared to the American planes....

You are right about russian jets are more sold in the world then US but the reason is price nothing more, Second US sells only to allies, Did you guy think that US might be trying to break into Russianweak points in air crafts so it can counter future threats, Almost all the latest jets made by china India Pakistan etc are mostly based on Russian tech????????? again i said mostly!!! not 100%.........

 

[gambit]

Here is a article I have found by a pilot stationed at Langley AFB who few F-15's. he says the incident NEVER took place. He also lists what did take place when the Russians visited the base.

Pravda sucks now as it sucked then. Amusing that people still fall for its crap.

Constant Peg

For more than a decade, until just before the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, a secret Air Force aggressor unit flew Soviet MiGs in more than 15,000 sorties against US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots.

 

[SQ8]

"For more than a decade, until just before the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, a secret Air Force aggressor unit flew Soviet MiGs in more than 15,000 sorties against US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots."

Yup... have donut was the name of the program I think.
I got a whole book about it.. in case anyone is interested.

 

[Thomas]

"For more than a decade, until just before the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, a secret Air Force aggressor unit flew Soviet MiGs in more than 15,000 sorties against US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots."

Yup... have donut was the name of the program I think.
I got a whole book about it.. in case anyone is interested.

Actually it wasn't a secret unit. It was a well known unit that trained pilots in Soviet air tactics. I'm sure the Soviets had something similar. The Egyptians supplied some of the aircraft used by them. they also used the F-5 as well. after the fall of the Soviet Union more advanced MIG's became available to train with.

 

[gambit]

"For more than a decade, until just before the November 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, a secret Air Force aggressor unit flew Soviet MiGs in more than 15,000 sorties against US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots."

Yup... have donut was the name of the program I think.
I got a whole book about it.. in case anyone is interested.

The advantage that the US version of 'adversary air' had over the Soviet's was that we had a greater variety of Soviet equipments than the Soviets had ours. Keep in mind that tactics are limited by capabilities. Take the machine gun over the single shot rifle for example. It is not that difficult to see which side is the more limited in tactic. Same with aerial combat. What Constant Peg and the Have series did was to established baseline hardware capabilities and from those information, a good deal of tactics can be deduced. Select few pilots from the general population are introduced to those information and upon return to their units they will disseminate their knowledge to their students. That is also where Fighter Weapons School and Top Gun derived their training programs. They used aircrafts that are as similar to the potential enemy's as possible and create the courses for our pilots. Naturally, the more variety there are of hardware, the more variety in tactics deduced.

This is where there continues to exists a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation about the first Cope India. Those F-15s were asked to perform as if they were not F-15 but what Pakistan could be fielding against India. We were surprised at two reasons:

1- That India managed to employed creative tactics that defeated the tactics that the F-15s simulated.

Which naturally lead to the assumption...

2- That our 'adversary air' program was incomplete in some areas.

In a real fight, the F-15 would quickly gain the upper hand against the Su-27.

 

[Muradk]

What a piece of rubbish!

Yar the article might be bull but in reality if you compare Su-27 Flanker and F-15 they are equally good if the Su-27s pilot is good he can take down an F-15 in no time vice versa. In both the machines it will be the man behind the machine.