Remember when Karthik talked about India partaking in “Red Flag” exercises with the US and other nations?
The Indian Su-30MKI apparently is a hot item
img: via Wikipedia
India and the US have been participating in joint air force exercises over the last decade or so. The most newsworthy story to ever come out of these exercises was when US got drubbed by India in the 2004 Cope India operation.
That pissed off some flyboy bigwigs in the American camp. So when the 2007 edition came around with India brandishing it’s Russian built Su-30MKI planes, they went the route all smart American corporations go, espionage. [Wired Blog 2007]
AFM says that a U.S. RC-135U electronic spy plane just happened to be en route to the U.K from the Middle East at the same time that the Indian aircraft were arriving, giving the U.S. jet a chance to use its radar-frequency measuring equipment to probe the Indians.
But surely if you’re participating in joint exercises your opponent is bound to see your equipment. So why this big deal over spying on the radar?
Because the Flanker’s N-011 radar will also be used by Chinese and Venezuelan jets — and if you know its frequency, you can jam. it.
Even the Brits could not resist listening in.
The Americans weren’t the only potential spies in the area. The Brits also happened to have a BAC-111 test plane, reportedly sporting frequency-detecting gear, in the area as the Indians flew mock dogfights with British Tornado fighters.
Now it was the turn of the IAF babus to get pissed off. They responded in the true desi manner – non cooperation. [Wired Blog 2008]
The self-imposed radar restrictions prevented U.S. snoops from “mapping” the high-tech radar. But other restrictions were dictated by the Indians’ U.S. hosts, Fulghum writes in his excellent piece. The Indians were barred from using data-links, chaff and flares.
With all these restrictions the Indians might’ve as well flown a World War 2 era Mosquito. The result was pretty embarrassing for India.
“When we were targeted by SAMs, we were shot down,” Choudry said. “And there was no [data] picture in the cockpit to help our situational awareness so the work load on the [aircrews] was very high.”
In true desi fashion, the IAF babus stopped short of attributing it to fate and preferred to look at the brighter side.
Regardless, Choudry insisted Red Flag was a good experience for his pilots. Indeed, the Indian Air Force was especially keen to observe U.S. “Net-Centric Warfare” (NCW) operations. “You cannot survive today for long against a good adversary without the NCW capability,” IAF vice chief Air Marshal P.V. Naik told The Economic Times.
India 1 – USA 1
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