IAF Sukhoi Su-30MKI vs RAF Euro-fighter Typhoon

IAF Sukhoi Su-30MKI vs RAF Euro-fighter Typhoon. Su-30MKI outsmarted Euro-fighter Typhoon by 12-0 in the Visual Range (WVR) dogfight

In the international air combat exercises featuring the Indian Air Force’ (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters and British Royal Air Force Typhoon jets, the Su-30MKI outsmarted the Eurofighter Typhoon 12-0 in the Within Visual Range (WVR) dogfighting operations.

• Su-30 MKI is known for its unique agility even present most advance plane like F-22 cannot match its agility.
  How can mki be almost the same as Eurofighter in maneuverability with all those thrust vectoring systems which lacks in Eurofighter
• Su 30 is much more maneuverable than Eurofighter and as above mentioned Su30 has vectored thrust along with canards. thus in dogfight Su 30 is superior.
• Russians were always building their fighter jets super maneuver with more advanced technology than others and even exporting them. Why should countries of the third world have to buy Eurofighter Typhoon when 5 Su-30MKI can come at the price of 2 typhoons.
• The Sukhoi MKI has vectored thrust along with canards and is among the most maneuverable aircraft of the world with a sustained turn rate of almost 20-25 degrees compared with the raptors 28-32 degrees. While the value of Eurofighter id over 35…

If the Su-30MKI has a tactical advantage over the Typhoon, the same advantage should extend over the Rafale as well, both of which are more expensive than the Russian origin aircraft.

Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale can be closely compared. Both the fighters have nearly identical size, power, and performance.

Both are twin-engined Eurocanards. Both aircraft are capable of carrying advanced Electronic warfare suites equipped with jammers and decoys. Both can deliver ALCMs like storm shadow, AASM or Taurus KEPD 350. Both have roughly the same IR and radar signature. Both are equipped with AESA radars and IRSTs. Both have roughly the same speed and are capable of mounting ramjet powered MBDA Meteor.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI mounts a Vympel R-77M BVR AAM missile and aNIIP NO11M Bars (Panther) integrated radar sighting system. The Russian origin plane is capable of performing all tactical tasks of the Su-24 Fencer deep interdiction tactical bomber and the Su-27 Flanker A/B/C air superiority fighter while having around twice the combat range and at least 2.5 times the combat effectiveness.

The Su-30MKI is powered by the Al-31FP (P for povorotnoye meaning “movable”) engine. The Su-30MKI has a large range of 3,000 km without refueling which allows for autonomous operations that require high endurance.

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It has an inbuilt In-Flight Refueling (IFR) probe that is retracted beside the cockpit during normal operation. The aircraft can carry air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, guided bombs, unguided projectiles, APK datalink pods, ELTA RF jammers etc.

“In all dogfighting exercises, IAF Sukhois were able to turn sharply into the extremely agile Typhoons using their thrust-vectored engines to keep the RAF jets locked in their sights. The Su-30’s advanced Infrared Search and Track System (IRST), a passive sensor, which cannot be tracked, proved to be a distinct advantage for the IAF’s pilots in close-combat maneuvering,” NDTV quoted Group Captain Ashu Srivastav, the Contingent Commander in the exercises as saying.

“Both the IAF and RAF used the full capabilities of their onboard radars in training mode, which meant that actual radar frequencies used in combat conditions were never exposed for confidentiality reasons. However, the detection ranges of the radars of both aircraft were not curtailed per se. This was air combat as close to the real thing as possible,” he said.

So does it mean that the Su-30MKI is superior to the two leading European fighters? Experts are divided on this as the Russian aircraft won in a dogfight, a type of aerial warfare which went out of practice in the 80s with network-centric warfare now in vogue.

Both Eurofighter and Dassault were contenders for the Indian Air Force MMRCA program. Dassault Rafale won the contract but later with technology transfer and cost escalation issues, India chose to reduce the number of aircraft from 126 to 36 this April.