The fourth iteration of Indradhanush, the joint combat exercise between the Indian Air Force and British RAF concluded on 31July in Lincolnshire. The exercise gave the two air forces an opportunity to put their combative skills to test in a friendly manner. IAF’s Russia made Sukhoi 30 MKI flanker jets were pitted against RAF’s Typhoon FGR4 fighters. The friendly exercise went well, until some media reports suggesting a 12-0 whitewash of the RAF by IAF in close combat situations emerged.
In an exclusive interview with Indian NDTV, Group Captain Ashu Srivastav, the Contingent Commander in the exercises said that the performance of his pilots was “exceptional”. The pilots, according to Mr. Srivastav showed “flexibility and adaptability to a new environment and operating conditions and on this benchmark, I would rate them exceptional.”
The reports in the Indian media strongly suggest that the Sukhoi 30 MKI managed to ace the more advanced RAF Typhoon aircraft. According to the reports, in Within Visual Range (WVR) combat, the IAF fighter easily won not just the one-on-one combat, but also the 2 vs 2 engagements. Apparently, in the exercise where a single Su-30 was to tackle two Typhoons, the IAF jet managed to bring down both the ‘enemy’ jets all by itself.
A spokesperson for the RAF, in defence of his team said told The Independent, “Our analysis does not match what has been reported, RAF pilots and the Typhoon performed well throughout the exercise with and against the Indian Air Force. Both forces learnt a great deal from the exercise and the RAF look forward to the next opportunity to train alongside the IAF.”
Another RAF source went on to label the alleged claim by the Indian Air Force as “comical” as the Typhoons were apparently fighting “with one arm behind their backs” not making full use of their more advanced weapons systems.
Tony Osborne, the London bureau chief of Aviation Week said “The Su-30MKI is one of the aircraft that the Typhoon was designed to tackle and defeat, and no doubt in the right hands would present a potent challenge. Today, though, the aim would be to engage aircraft like the Su-30MKI from long-range before the two could come together in a dogfight.”
Talking of the long range combat exercises, the Indian side admitted that they were “less successful” in the longer-range exercises, though they still maintained they won clearly in that format also.
There isn’t really much debate about the fact that the Typhoon is a technologically superior fighter to the Su-30, and the chances of its win in a real combat scenario are higher. That said, 12-0 is an overwhelmingly huge score to discount.
While the two air forces lay their respective claims on having won the joint exercise, here have a comparison of the two fighter aircraft in question, courtesy Aviatia.net followed by a video of the joint exercise by Forces.tv
