5 ms·
Photos of a Sukhoi Su-27 dogfighting with a USAF F-16 around Area 51
- wereHamster 10y agoHow come the US Air Force has Sukhoi aircrafts? Did they buy them from Russia? I can't imagine Russia selling their top aircrafts to an enemy.
- dver23 10y agoAccording to wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27, there are two in private ownership in the US. It's been in service since the mid-80s so not so new, and not surprisingly available outside Russia.
- amorphid 10y agoReminds of a scene in JAG where the main characters, 2 US military officers, steal a Russian jet. The Russians wonder why they stole the plane, as they could have just bought it. [1] I miss that show. [1] https://youtu.be/Ei9KEF7OsKQ?t=2m https://youtu.be/Ei9KEF7OsKQ?t=2m
- velodrome 10y agoWell, it kind of happened but with a Soviet pilot (defection). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko
- Inconel 10y agoThe USAF has a long history of acquiring foreign aircraft[1], sometimes through defectors, other times by purchasing them from foreign militaries. I don't know the source of the Su-27's in question here but I believe the USAF acquired a few airframes from the Ukrainian Air Force. Various MiG's have also been acquired from the Moldovan and Belarusian Air Forces. Also, there were two Su-27's for sale privately in the US a number of years ago[2]. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4477th_Test_and_Evaluation_Squadron#Aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4477th_Test_and_Evaluation_Squ... [2]http://www.prideaircraft.com/flanker.htm http://www.prideaircraft.com/flanker.htm
- sremani 10y agoAccording to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27#Operators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27#Operators) Two Su-27s were delivered to the U.S. in 1995 from Belarus.[60][72] Two more were bought from Ukraine in 2009 by a private company, Pride Aircraft to be used for aggressor training for U.S. pilots.[73]
- Inconel 10y agoThe two Su-27s that Pride Aircraft acquired and certified were big news when they were publicly put on sale around 2009-2010 but I'm not sure if they were actually bought by the USAF or a private company to do contracted DACT.
- TorKlingberg 10y agoI imagine it is tough work maintaining them. A decades old soviet plain, and you have no access to the manufacturer. I suppose the cannot just call Russia and order parts.
- trentnelson 10y agoSimilar to Iran trying to maintain a fleet of F-14s.
- sv123 10y agoAnd does Russia have any F-16s?
- codezero 10y agoIt's very likely. The US has sold F-16s extensively.
- Inconel 10y agoI don't believe so, or at least I've never heard about Russian F-16s. Iran still flies some old F-14s though. The USAF seems to be pretty strict about not allowing more modern fighters to end up in private hands. There are a number of F-86s, F-104s, F-5s and I believe one F-4 Phantom still flying around the US in the hands of private collectors and air museums but nothing newer like F-14s, F-15s, F-16s or F-18s. Edit: While I've never heard of any F-16s in Russia I'm sure the Russians have had plenty of time inspecting and probably even flying F-16s, it was a very widely exported plane.
- digi_owl 10y agoNever mind that Iran is still flying F-14s...
- knz 10y agoDoes Russia have an equivalent of ITAR? If not, that could partly explain why US aircraft are less commonly sold. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arm...
- dingaling 10y ago> And does Russia have any F-16s? Not publically but I would assume they've had access to Venezuela's F-16A/Bs, though those are probably in fairly poor condition by now and are nowhere representative of current avionics capabilities. After the close of the Vietnam war the USSR, and lesserly Poland and Czechoslovakia, extensively tested US-supplied ex-VNAF ( southern ) aircraft such as the F-5E but since then such opportunities have been very limited.
- cyberferret 10y agoI've seen SU-27s a few times in the air and on the ground here in Australia. The Indonesian air force has them and they have visited our shores as part of exercise 'Pitch Black' in the past, and probably will do in the future. MiGs are not 'top secret' jets behind the iron curtain any more. Lots of friendly Air Forces have them now (India etc.) and they routinely co-operate with western forces on exercises.
- r00fus 10y agoI remember seeing a Su-27 do forward flips, backflips and cobra maneuvers during the 2001 Paris air show. It looked pretty damn sweet - was the best part of the show for me.
- Shivetya 10y agoI was fortunate that while serving in the USAF we had an alternate for the Thunderbirds on our base. Watching him fly was a good reason to just sit on the ball fields even in the hottest afternoons. One takeaway from a meet and greet was it was real fun for him and all those cool moves are just that, simply cool with little application outside of stunt flying.
- velodrome 10y agoDon't forget the Aggressor squadron. They play a similar role (tactics, strategy) but with different equipment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressor_squadron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressor_squadron
- partycoder 10y agoThe dogfighting scenario is pretty much extinct. The F-16 is sort of old by now, except the drone version, which is reportedly for use as a training target. Probably it's a drone F-16 against a Su-27?
- rl3 10y ago>The dogfighting scenario is pretty much extinct. That's been a common theme since the advent of the air-to-air missile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight#Balkans_conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogfight#Balkans_conflict
- rangibaby 10y agoNATO air forces still fly the F-16. The Su-27 and newer models are large planes with a long range (similar to F-15) and would be expected to fly into NATO territory to hunt NATO refuelers and AWACS.
- partycoder 10y agoThe F-35 was scheduled to take over those roles. The F-16 is massively exported and now many countries have them, so that's why I was speculating about a variation.
- cyberferret 10y agoF-16 is far from irrelevant. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, we routinely get a lot of Asian air forces over here on exercise (in Australia). I go to their open days all the time and talk to the pilots and take photos of the planes. Interestingly, the Royal Thai air force has the older Block 30 airframes, whereas the Singapore Air Force as the newer Block 50 airframes fully fitted out with ECM packs etc. They almost look like two completely different aircraft models if it wasn't for the iconic under fuselage intake.
- Mikeb85 10y ago> The dogfighting scenario is pretty much extinct. This is oft repeated but not true. As advanced as missiles are, counter-measures are equally advanced. When two equally sophisticated planes engage each other, there's always the possibility that neither will shoot down the other, and they'll wind up in a dogfighting scenario. Of course in recent history warfare has been highly asymmetrical, with advanced militaries only engaging weaker forces.