ghostrider883

Wouldn't it be a sight to see if the Mysore opens up on a pirate motor boat & tear it to shreds with its AK-630 gun. This comes in wake of another merchant ship manned by Indian crew getting hijacked yesterday .

The man is a higly respected & revered journalist in Indian aviation circles. He is the guy who flew back seat on MiG-35, F-16, F-18, Gripen and made nice documentaries on those fighters. The whole point of the article was not mud slinging, but just a balanced view on Indian participation at Redf Flag, unlike the USAF COlonel whose language suggested that the IAF & the Su-30 was no good.

Such stern action was required and the Indian Navy was bold enough to do it. :yes:

THe Indian request for American help dates back to 1962. When China attacked India in 1962, the then Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru requested for American help, he asked President Kennedy for a suadron of USAF F-104s to be based in India's eastern front to intercept Chinese bombers and protect Indian cities. It was this fear of Chinese retaliatory bombing that forced Nehru & the Govt to ground IAF fighters. While this request was turned the USAF did send some C-130s for supply missions. After the end of 1962 war, the IAF felt an immediate need of supersonics fighters. Till 1962, the Indian AF consisted of only British & French origin aircraft, except for C-119, which ofd AMerican origin. The F-104, Mirage III , MiG-21F, BAC Lightning were shortlisted for license production. The American flatly refused to sell the F-104 so as not to offend their "ally" Pakistan. As a last ditch attempt, the Indian govt c requested fo F-101 Voodoos instead, but that too was refused. The French & British too were reluctant. The Soviet Union was glad to sell the MiG-21F-13. When the Americans got word of this, they offered to sell a squadron of F-5As and a some C-119s. But by then, it was too late. Soon after, a squadron of MiG-21F-13s & MiG-21PFs was in India and later the MiG-21FL, M, bis , MiG-27M were selected for license production in India. Thus began India's love affair with MiGs. I agree with Stick. If a repeat 1962 happens again ,the IAF will not be quiet and eventhough it might end up losing against the numerically superior PLAAF, there will be hell to pay. As for why India was reluctant to buy American fighters, the answer is simple...... the fear of sanctions and the unwelcome sight of seeing fighters becoming hangar queens.

Awesome work brother

Son of a bis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great work!!!!

It was Chetak helo that fired on the pirates. INS Tabar escorting MV Jag Arnav Indian Navy Marine Commandos landing on the Jag Arnav

Happy Birthday Mannie

Rumours are afloat that this is the same Akula class sub that is to be leased to the indian navy next year.

Thanks for these J-6s. Which of these versions were exported to Pakistan?

Nice work WK. Love the Iraqi Fitter skin

Was the video an official USAF media briefing? How authentic is the claim of the guy of being an American F-15 pilot? Can it be psyops? Views from other side: Judge for yourself .

You mean Su-7BKL drawings?

Saywhat, Those fuel tanks were carried by MiG-23s are long range ferry tanks. Those fuel tanks are not meant to be used in combat.

Great work Timmy!!! Keep it up .

New Mirage?

When did that happen? . No way US would have let M1A2 to be sold to India at the time when T-90S was selected for the IA., let alone sending it to India for tests. Yeah, the Army really likes the T-90S MBT and it was selected by India for license production while simultaneously upgrading T-72 to T-72M1 "Ajeya" standards. While the Arjun MBT was supposed to form the backbone of the Army for Armoured Regiments, delays & cost overrruns have almost killed the Arjun MBT. Now the Army is looking at the proposed next gen Russian T-95 tank development.

Jedi, I think I have an answer. Here is a scan of a pic in the book : The caption under the pic in the book reads - Probably the other engine(as in all twin engined a/c) is powerful enough to bring the a/c home. Simple solution, if the TVC nozzle gets stuck, shut down that engine.

IAF’s first ever Participation in Exercise ‘Red Flag’ CONTINGENT READY TO DEPART ON 07 JUL 08 The Indian Air Force would be participating in a multinational Air Exercise, ‘Ex - Red Flag 08’ at the invitation of United States Air Force (USAF), scheduled to be held at Nellis Air Force Base in the US from 09-23 Aug 08. The IAF would be participating in the exercise with eight Su-30MKI aircraft, two IL-78MKI air to air refuellers and one IL-76MD transport aircraft. The contingent would comprise 156 personnel below officers rank and 91 officers (inclusive of 10 members of ‘Garud’ IAF Special Force team). The contingent is being led by Gp Capt D Chaudhury and Exercise Coordinator would be Gp Capt Ajay Rathore. Exercise Red Flag is a multinational air exercise that is held thrice a year at Nellis Air Force base, USA. The IAF would be participating in the Exercise alongside South Korean Air Force with F-15K and the French Air Force with their latest Rafale aircraft, apart from the USAF. Red Flag was originally conceived in 1975 by USAF with an advanced aerial combat training format - the purpose being to ensure that pilots are trained well enough to survive in air combat and win air battles. The exercise holds tremendous learning opportunity for all the participating Air Forces. Prior to the main Exercise Red Flag 08 at Nellis, the IAF’s contingent would be working up at Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho, US from 17 Jul 08 till 07 Aug 08. At Mountain Home, the IAF contingent would be flying with the F-16s & F-15s of USAF. The purpose of the work up phase is to streamline the procedures and have a clear understanding of the new flying environment. The IAF contingent with its aircraft are scheduled to depart from Pune on 07 Jul 08 and transit via Doha (Qatar), Chorlu (Turkey), Mont de Marsan (France) and Lages (Portugal) before reaching land main USA and Mountain Home airbase on 17 Jul 08.

Here's a nice little documentry on Indian participation at Red Flag, that aired on NDTV last night....good sound & video quality. There's a clip from inside an IL-78 that shows an SU-30 taking fuel from an Il-78. There's interview of IAF's elite "Garud" Force commandos. http://rapidshare.com/files/152059857/redflag1.FLV

Here's my little review of the book: The book contains lots of pictures of Indian Flankers....some of them are available on the internet, however most of the pics are "new" , that is to say, not seen on the internet or other books.There are some very cool pics like tha tof a Mirage 2000TH getting refuelled by a SU-30MKI, a cockpit view of air refuelling by an IL-78. There are pics showing various details of Indian FLankers...the RWR, antennas, sensors etc.For eg, there is a antenna behind the cockpit of a Su-30K that is absent on the MKI. At the end of the book, there are six pages containing pics of close ups of various parts of the aircraft, the weapons carried, landing gear, TVC nozzles of the AL-31FP engine,fins, canards etc. The book is a good source for information on Indian Flankers. Don't expect to find any classified info on the MKI. The book contains info already available in the public domain. The Book contains the following sections. 1. Development - The section focuses on development of the Su-30MKI. How the aircraft's systems, radar and avionics were brought together into the Su-30MKI. It contains two pictures of SU-30MKI prototypes - 603, which was a Su-30MK converted into SU-30MKI and 01, which crashed at the Paris air show in 1999. 2. Su-30K - Focuses on the first two batches of Flankers acquired by the IAF. Batch 1 :Su-30Ks (SB-001 to SB-008) Batch 2:Su-30MKs (SB-009 to SB-018) Lots of pics of the Su-30K/MKs. There's one pic of four Indian tri-colour Su-30Ks flying formation. 3. Su-30MKI enters service Induction of the SU-30MKI in IAF service with No. 20 Sqdn IAF "Lightnings". Photos from Induction service. 4. Local Production Production of aircraft at HAL facilities in India. Gives reasons why the proposed upgradation of Su-30K/MKs(acquired in the first two batches) to Su-30MKI standards was cancelled.Pictures of HAL produced FLankers (SB-1XX series) and assembly lines in Nasik. 5. Su-30K in exercise. Puctures only of Indian SU-30Ks on exercise with French AF MIrages in France. 6. Exercise Indradhanush II Good details of Indian Su-30MKIs visit to UK for the exercise backed up by lots of photos. 7. Engine & Airframe Minor details of Su-30MKI's airframe- canards, TVC engines etc. 8. Avionics Some info on radar & avionics systems 9. Weapons & Loads Good details about the type of weapons carried by the MKI i.e which station supports which type of weapon. 10. Colour Scheme Some details of colour schemes painted on Indian Flankers...the tri-blue scheme painted on SU-30K/Mks, Indian Tri-colour flag scheme painted on Su-30Ks and the grey scheme painted on SU-30MKIs plus the IAF 75th anniversary scheme painted on two HAL manufactured Flankers(105 & 106) 11. Squadron Histories A paragraph on the Four Su-30MKI squadrons of the IAF - No. 24 "Hawks", No. 20 "Lightnings", No. 30 "Hawks" 12. Future Serials of Flankers in IAF batchwise with some details.248 a/c planned to be in service. As I said before, the book is worth the number of pictures it carries.Its a must for every Flanker fan.

I watch it when I get time. Used to watch it a lot in its WWF days......Bret Hart was my favourite.