Monday, November 28, 2005

Cope India 2005

From the Christian Science Monitor:

For now, US Air Force officials are saying only that the Cope India 2005 air exercises were a success, and a sign of America's growing appreciation for the abilities of its newfound regional ally.
But there are some signs that America's premier fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, is losing ground to the growing sophistication of Russian-made fighter planes, and that the US should be more wary about presuming global air superiority - the linchpin of its military might.
The CSM gets a couple of things wrong...such as...the F-16 isn't "America's premier fighter jet," the F-15 is. And the F-15 will be superseded by the F/A-22. The F/A-22 will guarantee US air supremacy, assuming the fighter is bought in requisite numbers. Which brings us to...

The USAF flew the F-15 against the Indian AF in Cope India 2004. The official USAF report on the outcome of Cope India 2004 is classified, but the Defense Tech article has a pretty good report on the outcome.

Update: The F-15 image link didn't work, fixed.

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