a small combat record for a big jet

The Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker is an impressive Russian air superiority fighter, first flown in 1983 it was designated to compete with the American teen series fighter such as the F-15, even today it is still well up there (along with it's variants and later models of similar design) and boosts a long 3,530 km range, heavy armament, sophisticated avionics and high agility.

The Su-27 in a sense is similar to the MiG-29, the weapon systems are basically the same, but the Su-27 was designed with a different mission from the start, while the MiG-29 stayed within 100 miles of it's own front lines the Su-27 would penetrate deep into enemy airspace!

But what it lacks (probably for a good reason) of that it's American F-15 counterpart doesn't is combat experience, the only incident where the Su-27 was successfully used in aerial combat was in 1999 during the latter stages of the Ethiopian Eritrean War.

In December 1998 and January 1999 Ethiopia received six ex-Russian Air Force Su-27S and two Su-27US'.



The sad fact was the Eritrean Air Force had MiG-29's which they were using in an attempt to gain their air superiority over the battlefield, shortly after they begun fly CAPs along the embattled border to Eritrea an Eritrean MiG-29 was downed, the following day a second one was downed, both by Su-27's none of which were shot down in the entire war.

That being the only war in which the Su-27 was used in combat as short as it was the war in itself (which saw a lot of other Russian equipment used) was surprising considering these extremely poor African nations had acquired such high-tech equipment and used them in tactically and strategically feasible manners.

In the 2008 South Ossetian War Russian Air Force Su-27's helped gain control of the air space over the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.

In the end the Flanker proved it's worth and will surely do so in any future combat in whatever circumstances it will arise from!

possible sources for new Iranian fighter jets

With continued Israeli threats to attack Iran's nuclear program Iran has a right to defend its skies against attackers, not many people are aware of how dangerous an attack as threatened would be.

For instance the attack on the Bushehr nuclear reactor would immediately kill thousands living in the surrounding areas and poison those as far away as the Qatar and the United Arab Emirates!

With Iran threatening to do the same to Israel this is indeed a dangerous game, Iran can counter Israeli aggression but does it have sufficient air power to defend against a massive Israeli strike.

Unfortunately not, the F-14A is still the top gun of the Iranian Air Force and the 25 or so still in service don't have AIM-54 missiles that made them such a deadly force in the 1980's, other aircraft they have worth mentioning would be handful of MiG-29's bought from Russia in 1983 and several ex Iraqi Air Force jets that crossed over during Operation Desert Storm, some of these (most notable examples being the a handful of Mirage F-1's and some Su-25's) are still in service today.

Venezuela offered to sell their fleet of 21 F-16's after the US introduced an arms embargo, only 12 remain in service today in the Venezuelan air force and the US strictly does not allow Venezuela to sell the fleet to a third country without written consent!


source

Since when did they have command over Venezuela?
They should be allowed do what they want, its for defence and Iranian engineers would surely be able to develop new parts for them like they did in the case for their F-14's and F-4's, hell they were even able to build a fighter from scratch based on components from the F-14 and F-5!

Next onto a country that doesn't have arms and economic sanctions against Iran.



That would be North Korea, Iran have already acquired a hand full of missiles off North Korea but I somehow doubt they will acquire many planes, most of the North Korean air force are older MiG's (Fishbeds, Floggers etc.) most of which probably don't even work, the best North Korea have are a rumoured 35 to 40 MiG-29 Fulcrums (see picture above) which are used to defend Pyongyang airspace.

I somehow doubt they will want to sell any of them to Iran or anyone else for that matter.

They could turn to someone else who isn't an ally or a friend, or anything really for that matter.

Russia.



Iranian citizens crying death to Russia recently didn't seem to strain relations, rumours of Russia delivering S-300 air defence batteries to Iran aren't yet verified, but if that is true that mean Iran could bolster one hell of an air defence against enemy aircraft.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran has signed an arms deal with the Russian Rosoboronexport arms group to buy 250 Su-30 MKM warplanes and 20 Il-78 MKI aerial tankers.
It was dismissed as propaganda, but still if it had been true it would have well evened the tide, it would have been over three times as big as the amount of F-14's delivered during the 1970's, but not just that, they would be able to import parts if they ever had to fight a long war, and spread out across the many tactical air bases presently existing in Iran would be the perfect defence for Iran's skies, (the old Khatami Air Base the ex hub for the F-14's built in the desert outside of Isfahan comes into mind as a great base of operations for this new fleet).

Anyway, back from Nevernever land the only hope of something like this happening in the near future will be long after the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev realizes nuclear talks will take little action on the other side and a militerization of Georgia might lead him to back Iran with just such enormous aerial defence logistics.

But for the moment Iran will just have to rely on what they have at the moment!

Top 5 coolest air forces

Note before you criticize my choices, this list is of the coolest air forces of the world not the best!

5. Iranian Air Force (IRIAF)

The only reason I picked the Iranian Air Force is simply because the way its been made up since 1980, the Shah's air force was a match for the Soviet Air Force until after the Iranian Revolution when it was disbanded and pro Shah pilots put in jail, tortured and some even killed.

But after the Iraqi invasion started on the 22nd of September 1980 the Iranians got together and launched Operation Kaman 99, 60 F-14's defending Iran's airspace and 120 F-4's launched in to retaliate bombing the Iraqi air force and destroying about 55% of it!

300 engagements against Iraqi fighters was fought over Khark Island alone, the Iraqi Air Force failed in destroying one target over eight years at the hand of Iranian F-14's, showing them to be a deadly force regardless of the arms embargo and heavy sanctions.



Iran today are even capable of producing their own variant of the F-5 Freedom Fighter and are keeping over 20 F-14 Tomcats and over 60 F-4's in service.

4. Israeli Air Force (IAF)



While it's main task these days seems to be deploying F-16's to kill women and children and destroy UN convoys the Israeli Air Force in its day did a pretty good job, especially the ballsy Operation Opera in 1981 destroying an Iraqi nuclear reactor.

In the Lebanon War of 1982 they even managed to shoot down 100 Syrian aircraft without a single loss.

And around the same time during a training exercise an F-15 was involved in a collision with an A-6 even managed to land with only one wing!


3. United States Air Force (USAF)



The USAF is the biggest air force in the world and in some regard the best because of that, they have created many revolutionary aircraft, such as the F-14 Tomcat (named the MiG killer), the A-10 Warthog which in my case is one of the reasons tanks are becoming obsolete and they have recently invested into stealth bombers and fighters (with the F-22 Raptor), I have issues with whether or not stealth aircraft are proven.

That being said the US Air Force is a mighty adversary for anyone to have!

2. Russian Air Force



In the early 1980's the Soviets designed the Su-27 Flanker, basically integrating the F-14 and F-15 designs into one, it was big and ready to kick ass, since the Soviet Union fell the Russian air force the Russian Air Force has made some technology demonstrators and haven't really made anything in bulk relying more on their MiG-29's and Su-27's as their main frontline fighters.



But when they make make something new count on it being awesome.

1. French Air Force (ALA)



Yes the French Air Force is what I picked as the coolest air force, its far from the best air force in the world but in my books it surely is the coolest, apart from a large amount of sleek Mirages and the new Rafales it is a very sleek cool looking air force.

And the pilots apparently like to hug the ground for some reason;



And if you think a small looking Mirage can't do much damage because of its size, think again, a Rafale can fire an ASMP supersonic nuclear missile that has a yield equivilant to 300 kt of TNT!

Now that is quite a big punch for such a small little plane!

how powerful is Russia?

Russia had a brutal history during the Second World War, with most of its earth scorched and two thirds of its industry completely destroyed, and as if this wasn't bad enough it had to live in fear from the military alliance built up from the west to counter Moscow, it was in late 1991 that the days of the Cold War came to an end, the USSR collapsed after holding together 39,000 nuclear weapons and the massive Red Army, it all came tumbling down, Mikhail Gorbachev who had now offered reform was gone and the first president of the Russian Federation was a drunk.



Russia then ended up bogged down in a long war in Chechnya devoting 70,000 soldiers as well as support equipment and lost 5,000 in the process in the long and painful struggle which saw rebels producing cheap Borz sub machine guns in their dirty war against the Russian forces, the bombing of Grozny at the start of the war continually for three weeks by the Russian Air Force killed 27,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Russians.

Yelstin had made the Russian military look weak and careless and old fashioned, as it was during the 1990's, the once proud navy was reduced to tatters and the Russian air force patrolled only its own borders, to America and the rest of the world Russia didn't seem to matter and wasn't taken half as seriously as it should have been.



However Vladamir Putin an ex KGB man became president of Russia in 2000 at the beginning of the 21st century and begun to bring to the country back onto its feet, a second war started in Chechnya and is still be fought in mere skirmishes to this day!

Putin helped the military build itself up properly and in 2007 the Tu-95 Bear was seen in the skies over the North Pole, the South Pacific and even in British air space, Russia was showing itself to be a dominant power for the first time since the Cold War.



But has it changed?

Well it wasn't half as big since the Soviet times but it hasn't changed very much equipment wise, apart from some air force technology demonstrators.

The war last August in Georgia proves my point, the Russians sent in line after line of tanks against their enemy;



That covered by artillery and fighter jet sorties did give the Georgian military a pounding but their weak air defence did manage to down a Tu-22 supersonic bomber!
The Russian tactics seems to be a large force of men and equipment to sweep through an area covered by missiles, a form of warfare much larger on the ground than British or American warfare in the last 60 years!



Russia still has more nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War than the United States, Britain, France and Israel combined, 14,000 or so mostly in storage, however after tensions arose in early 2007, and again during the 2008 war in Georgia I'm sure Russia has a hefty amount of these attached to their many ICBM's.

Putin's reform may not have indefinitely weakened Russia as Gorbachev's one helped speed the collapse of the Soviet Union, no its strengthening it and in the mere future Russia will be a strong world power and will matter!

the use of air to air combat today

The F-14 Tomcats era came to it's end in 2006, drastically as the US Navy had a good 95% of the fleet destroyed instantly as so none would end up in the hands of the Iranians to be used on their aging Tomcat fleet.

But at a time when it didn't completely thrive the worlds waters was the time when the F-14 flew high, designed to protect carriers they could each carry AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, equipped with AWG-9 radar they could each track 24 targets from over 100 miles away and send engage six of those with AIM-54's from 100 miles away also.

The AIM-54 could reach Mach 3 in speed before hitting its target dead on, that target being a Russian MiG, supersonic bomber or even a cruise missile.

Even though the bombcat enabled the F-14 to drop bombs on ground targets it's air superiority weren't proven in 1991 against Iraq and in 2003 the Iraqi Air Force didn't put up much of a resistance, this being realized it was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet, as the title suggests its a fighter and also an attack aircraft in one, which could carry a hefty amount of bombs to engage ground targets.



Meaning that yesterday's war is over and now today's war (taking on smaller nations with limited air power) make the F/A-18 Hornet more practical.



The French Exocet missile is lethal; as proved by the six of so Argentina possessed in the Falklands War, and to the crew of the USS Stark, (an Iraqi Mirage F-1 fired an Exocet at it killing 37 of the crew and crippling the ship in a matter of seconds).

The fighters-jets on the French carrier (the Charles de Gaulle) can all carry this meaning that no enemy destroyer or frigate will mess with them.

Now to the Russians, possessing only a single aircraft carrier in service (the Admiral Kuznetsov) they seem to depend more on defending rather than attacking, using neither the Su-27k or the Su-33 which has folding wings and six air to air missiles (and has the same role as the F-14 Tomcat had).



Boris Yeltsin' time in office really ruined the old Russian Navy, and Putin recently begun to commission new ships to be built and the Admiral Kuznetsov will soon be hitting the high seas reminiscent to the USS Enterprise in the 1970's, (except in an entirely defensive posture).

Russian aviation still more technologically advanced

source: pandemicstuidos.com

The above image is of two Su-47's, one having downed the new American "Top Gun" fighter the F-22 Raptor and another one firing one of its hard points, the Su-47 Berkut is another one of the examples of prototypes and technology demonstrators made by the Russians since the end of the Cold War.

But here's the thing, there are only two out there, its distinguished by its forward swept wings can hold a variety of different missiles (up to 14!).

But its not perfect and any ole aircraft won't suit the Russians.

Back in the late 1970's the Russians needed something to counter the American teen series fighters (F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon), they came up with a fighter that seemed to combine the three of these, it was big, fast, highly maneuverable and armed to the teeth with missiles, it was not half as nimble as the Russians MiG's were in the 1970's, also it was designed unlike the MiG-29 to perform missions deep inside enemy territory.



The US has pushed the F-22 program forward after the Cold War to counter the new Flanker threat, what is supposed to be is the next generation fighter that is supposed to be a new generation in stealth fighters, but the truth is its fat, slower than the 26 year old Russian Flanker and expensive.

Yet the Congress in the US has been given shallow reasons to push forward on its development, Lockheed Martin have pushed forward 127 F-22's since 2006!

There have been other plans by the Russians for a new front line fighter to replace the MiG-29 and the Su-27 that started in the late 1980s!
Just how far ahead of the US in technological air strength where the Reds planning to go?



The Mikoyan Project 1.44 is another technology demonstrator to face down the F-22 Raptor, although Mikoyan seem to be going forward on this one with ease since they could use the same funds to build a couple more Fulcrums and Flankers instead of spending vast amounts of money on over a hundred big expensive stealth fighters that are unproven (and shiny).

Recent Russian air force flybys

Today eight Russian bombers were intercepted in British air space, the bombers were Tupolev Tu-95's capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, the Panavia
Tornado's intercepted them ready to open fire if they crossed over into their airspace, the Tu-95's then turned around ready to head home, this is not the first incident that happened over the last few months another involving a Tu-95 threatening to breach British airspace, another was earlier this year in May
when one was observing a Royal Navy exercise near Scotland.
Also the British and the Russians haven't been getting on, and the British believe that the Russians are simply rattling things daring the Brits to attempt to shoot down scouts in international waters that could very well have them threaten to enter a war between the two nations.
(It would appear Russia is challenging British defence forces. Or the Ruskies could be simply remind the Brits that they are still there).
Maybe?

News report of recent incident



American Incident



A slightly similar incident happened on September 28th in Alaska when a Tu-95, (the US nickname them the Bear) veering very close to the west coast of Alaska. At Elmendorf Air Force Base an F-15 Eagle from the 12th
Fighter Squadron took off to intercept making sure it did not cross the line.