An aggressor squadron or adversary squadron is a squadron that is trained to act as an opposing force in military wargames.
USAF and U.S. Navy has many aggressor squadron, Now Here’s The Royal Air Force’s First Aggressor Eurofighter Typhoon.
A Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jet has been repainted in the aggressor color scheme. The jet, serial ZJ914, broke cover at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, after a period in the paint shop there.
It’s been known for a while that the RAF planned to paint at least some of No IX (Bomber) Squadron’s Typhoon FGR4s in new “shark gray” colors befitting their “fourth-gen aggressor” function.
“In this role, [the Typhoon] will provide a sterner training test to RAF and NATO fast jet pilots, as they will play the role of opposing aircraft which match their speed and maneuverability while using the latest real-world dogfighting and air combat tactics against them,” the service said in a press release.
The squadron’s “Bomber” title doesn’t reflect its current mission, but is a nod to the rich heritage of the unit, which was formed in 1914 and which thereafter has served mainly in a bombing capacity, including the 1944 operation to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, at which time it flew the Avro Lancaster.
Some areas of the jet have not been repainted including the radome and various antennas associated with the Typhoon’s Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS). The scheme has been described as a dark shade of gray, but appears closer to black, and is superficially similar to the “Blackbird-style” paint job that has been used by Nellis Air Force Base’s 64th Aggressor Squadron (AGRS) flying F-16s in Nevada.
The RAF and the Royal Navy each have a squadron of black-painted Hawk T1s used for adversary work, but their color schemes are common across that fast jet training fleet, rather than being role-specific.
Plans to establish another two frontline units within the U.K.’s Typhoon Force date back to the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of 2015, when it was declared that these would utilize the more basic Tranche 1 aircraft that offer only a limited capacity for an upgrade.
