Ladakh Flash Point

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Jono

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I watched several "experts" on Taiwan TV. They suggested that one of the ways that may make Trump win the election is to start a limited war against China and the probable hot spots might be Taiwan straight or SCS. Looks like the probability of SCS is higher. Further, Xi order the Chinese troops not to provoke the US troops in SCS betting Trump will lose the November election.
Haha, my turn to pull your leg. " Taiwan straight or SCS. " It should be Taiwan Strait, smiles. ;)
 

Rubeena

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I read the complete paper it is amazing how the exercise and training took place.
1. But the same exercise, how it is useful towards the Ladakh it is completely mountains area?
2. These exercises, how do they communicate while driving their vehicles? I saw the US exercise where they used certain equipments to communicate. Even they had the facility to share data during moving?
3. All these moving of vehicles and everything, is the same affected by the Cyber?
any paper on the above questions please share.
Thank you in advance
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member

Interesting video of F18 vs Su30MKM, which is basically an MKI sold to Malaysia.

I found the F18 pilot’s shameless self promoting a little nauseating (claim to be a gentlemen by preferring guns (no, I don’t get it either), then proceeds to cheat (or game as he calls it) by pre-turning before the merge, which is decidedly unsporting and ungentlmenly. Also convenient he just happens to never had his go pro in the fights he lost.

Personally I didn’t find any in his intro worthwhile, so you can all save yourselves some time by jumping to 8:30 when the fight footage starts.

What I found most interesting was the fact that all 3 fights were essentially the same. Which shows frankly shocking level of rigidity on thought and/or lack of tactical flexibility and adaptability on the part of the Malaysian pilots.

But personally I think this might actually be 3 fights against 2-3 different opponents. It could have been the same Su30 in all three fights, but since the Su30 is a two seater, the pilots could have easily took turns. But still that would show a worrying degree of a lack of flexibility for the second seater to do essentially the same thing as what he just saw his front seater already tried and fail in the same way.

The other striking thing was how quickly the fights were over, which made sense since the Hornet pilot was dumping all his energy and airspeed straight away on the merge. Basically, it’s an all or nothing kind of strategy as with low energy and airspeed, the Hornet pilot would quickly run out of options and become a sitting duck if the fight dragged on for any length of time. Me thinks the fights were all over quickly because as soon as the fight went beyond the initial turn or two, the F18’s chances would have started to plunge and he didn’t want to show longer fights where he lost.

The fight themselves also made little sense from the Su30’s POV, since in all 3 fights, the Su30 went low and slow. That makes me think they were trying to pull their airshow party tricks instead of thinking like killers on how to maximise their chances of a win.

In that respect, the TVC on the MKM and MKI might actually prove to be a bit of a Trojan horse for their own pilots. Because they seemed so obsessed with trying to find ways to maximise the benefit from TVC that they end up making themselves sitting ducks with extreme instantaneous, post-stall turns that might be spectacular to see, but which bleeds your energy and airspeed like crazy and make you easy gun kills. Which is also something reported by American pilots from when the Indian took their MKIs to Red Flag.

Yeah I stumbled upon this video recently as well. The Malaysian pilots seem to be a little too rigid like you said, at least in the shown videos. Maybe it has to do with their airforce determining the optimal WVR tactics and getting pilots to only replicate it or this one is the only allowed tactic when used in training against foreign pilots? Maybe it could also be one set of tactics they are trying to test out against foreign piloted hornets in particular. But then they also own the Fulcrum and Hornet as well. Messy airforce and politically motivated acquisition programs. Wouldn't read too much into just this guy's shown clips.

What I've noticed in readings from alleged pilots who flew against flankers, the flanker is really difficult to beat WVR unless you somehow force them to play to your fighter's strengths. The J-11As were beating Thai Gripens WVR pretty convincingly. If DCS physics are close to reality, the flanker nearly always ends up dominating a dogfight if pilot skills and experience were more or less equal and suited/familiar with their fighter.

Equipping the flanker with upgraded BVR abilities is what Russia did with the Su-35 and China did with the J-16 and I'm sure the new J-15, even the old J-11Bs are receiving new AESA and PL-15. The only real downside with the modern 4.5 gen flankers is the RCS. Thrust vectoring can be useful but AESA and better missiles are probably the upgrades that give the greatest boost.
 

Sardaukar20

Captain
Registered Member

Interesting video of F18 vs Su30MKM, which is basically an MKI sold to Malaysia.

I found the F18 pilot’s shameless self promoting a little nauseating (claim to be a gentlemen by preferring guns (no, I don’t get it either), then proceeds to cheat (or game as he calls it) by pre-turning before the merge, which is decidedly unsporting and ungentlmenly. Also convenient he just happens to never had his go pro in the fights he lost.

Personally I didn’t find any in his intro worthwhile, so you can all save yourselves some time by jumping to 8:30 when the fight footage starts.

What I found most interesting was the fact that all 3 fights were essentially the same. Which shows frankly shocking level of rigidity on thought and/or lack of tactical flexibility and adaptability on the part of the Malaysian pilots.

But personally I think this might actually be 3 fights against 2-3 different opponents. It could have been the same Su30 in all three fights, but since the Su30 is a two seater, the pilots could have easily took turns. But still that would show a worrying degree of a lack of flexibility for the second seater to do essentially the same thing as what he just saw his front seater already tried and fail in the same way.

The other striking thing was how quickly the fights were over, which made sense since the Hornet pilot was dumping all his energy and airspeed straight away on the merge. Basically, it’s an all or nothing kind of strategy as with low energy and airspeed, the Hornet pilot would quickly run out of options and become a sitting duck if the fight dragged on for any length of time. Me thinks the fights were all over quickly because as soon as the fight went beyond the initial turn or two, the F18’s chances would have started to plunge and he didn’t want to show longer fights where he lost.

The fight themselves also made little sense from the Su30’s POV, since in all 3 fights, the Su30 went low and slow. That makes me think they were trying to pull their airshow party tricks instead of thinking like killers on how to maximise their chances of a win.

In that respect, the TVC on the MKM and MKI might actually prove to be a bit of a Trojan horse for their own pilots. Because they seemed so obsessed with trying to find ways to maximise the benefit from TVC that they end up making themselves sitting ducks with extreme instantaneous, post-stall turns that might be spectacular to see, but which bleeds your energy and airspeed like crazy and make you easy gun kills. Which is also something reported by American pilots from when the Indian took their MKIs to Red Flag.
Well the RMAF Su-30MKM pilots did received some training from the IAF Su-30MKI pilots. Perhaps some of the over-emphasis on air show maneuvers, and rigid tactics were passed on to the Malaysian pilots?

The Su-30MKI/MKM is still an amazing machine. But victory is always decided by the pilot, not the machine. The IAF pilots have a reputation of overdoing the spectacular in WVR dogfights as evidenced during their trainings with USAF pilots in the past.

The PLAAF pilots also like to pull off those air show stunts. I just hope that they are more mature than the IAF and RMAF pilots on WVR combat.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Well the RMAF Su-30MKM pilots did received some training from the IAF Su-30MKI pilots. Perhaps some of the over-emphasis on air show maneuvers, and rigid tactics were passed on to the Malaysian pilots?

The Su-30MKI/MKM is still an amazing machine. But victory is always decided by the pilot, not the machine. The IAF pilots have a reputation of overdoing the spectacular in WVR dogfights as evidenced during their trainings with USAF pilots in the past.

The PLAAF pilots also like to pull off those air show stunts. I just hope that they are more mature than the IAF and RMAF pilots on WVR combat.

I think the PLAAF pilots and doctrine are much more realistic. They have trained with the Thai, Russians, and Pakistanis and should know the difference between stunts and what real WVR demands. I don't think it would have been so easy otherwise for the antiquated J-11A to beat the Gripen C in WVR so convincingly. BVR of course went to the Gripen without saying. It has much smaller RCS and more modern missiles and radar. Indians love to claim the J-11As lost BVR but always forget to mention they won WVR. It was also early 1990s Su-27SK (J-11A) vs late 90s early 2000s Gripen C.
 

Sardaukar20

Captain
Registered Member
I think the PLAAF pilots and doctrine are much more realistic. They have trained with the Thai, Russians, and Pakistanis and should know the difference between stunts and what real WVR demands. I don't think it would have been so easy otherwise for the antiquated J-11A to beat the Gripen C in WVR so convincingly. BVR of course went to the Gripen without saying. It has much smaller RCS and more modern missiles and radar. Indians love to claim the J-11As lost BVR but always forget to mention they won WVR. It was also early 1990s Su-27SK (J-11A) vs late 90s early 2000s Gripen C.
The training with the Thais as you have mentioned was Falcon Strike 2015. An experienced PLAAF Flanker pilot described the J-11As capabilities at BVR as essentially an embarrassment vs the Gripens. It should have been a wake-up call for the PLAAF that the backbone of its Flanker fleet, the J-11s is poor at BVR combat. But he also went on to mention that the J-10s fared much better against the Gripens. So in a hypothetical air war with India, the J-10s, not the Chinese Flankers would be the key player. But Chinese Flankers are still important for long range CAP. So, I just wonder how many of the more up-to-date J-11B/ J-11D with AESA radars, and reduced RCS have been produced? It seems like an urgent thing to fix, considering all the hostilities that are going on right now.

On the topic of joint training with foreign air forces. I would like to see the PLAAF train with the Singaporean Air Force. These guys are considered the best in SEA, and they have the F-15s. The PLAAF needs to train against the F-15s, considering that these are among its greatest threats.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
The training with the Thais as you have mentioned was Falcon Strike 2015. An experienced PLAAF Flanker pilot described the J-11As capabilities at BVR as essentially an embarrassment vs the Gripens. It should have been a wake-up call for the PLAAF that the backbone of its Flanker fleet, the J-11s is poor at BVR combat. But he also went on to mention that the J-10s fared much better against the Gripens. So in a hypothetical air war with India, the J-10s, not the Chinese Flankers would be the key player. But Chinese Flankers are still important for long range CAP. So, I just wonder how many of the more up-to-date J-11B/ J-11D with AESA radars, and reduced RCS have been produced? It seems like an urgent thing to fix, considering all the hostilities that are going on right now.

On the topic of joint training with foreign air forces. I would like to see the PLAAF train with the Singaporean Air Force. These guys are considered the best in SEA, and they have the F-15s. The PLAAF needs to train against the F-15s, considering that these are among its greatest threats.

The J-11B and J-10C is now the backbone in terms of numbers. Maybe there are still more J-10A variants than the B+C types but surely the J-11A was not the backbone not even back in 2015. Now the main frontline backbone is J-11B, J-10C, and J-16.

I think the J-11B upgrades with AESA and integrated with newer missiles will not include RCS reduction like attempted on the J-16. It's not a new variant just old frames receiving new radars and missiles.
 

Inst

Captain
1) Why does it always have to be teams? Why can't the USA/India/China get along? The Chinese foreign ministry has the same position as me, and so does Xi Jinping! So don't say just because I don't want bad relations that I dribble in the other direction.

2) You said: "Again if the US were in China's position they would have "liberated" New Delhi already and created millions of casualties."

Why can't you see this is objectively wrong? The US has never attacked another nuclear power.

3) You said: " Why can't Indians understand the perception of LAC differs and like mentioned so often on the internet by now, the Chinese have only gone up to the Chinese claimed lines and still backed off a kilometer at least. "

Well the solution to that would be to demarcate the LAC wouldn't it? But that's just what some Indian commentators propose yet the Chinese ambassador rejects.

Not completely following your posting, but you deserve props for proposing moderate or light positions in a China vs India thread.
 

FishWings

Junior Member
Registered Member
Pretty much it sums up the Indians thinking that PLA is weaker than them right now.

"There is a current in the Indian military that would like to erase the drubbing India took in its 1962 border war. The thinking is that the current Indian military is far stronger and better armed than it was 58 years ago, and it has more experience than the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The last time the Chinese army went to war was its ill-fated invasion of Vietnam in 1979.

But that is dangerous thinking. India’s “experience” consists mainly of terrorizing Kashmiri civilians and an occasional firefight with lightly armed insurgents. In 1962, India’s and China’s economies were similar in size. Today, China’s economy is five times larger and its military budget four times greater."


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I don't know why it is so often claimed that China lost the 1979 war against Vietnam. Prior to the PLA offensive, China already made it clear that the PLA was to not advance further than the provincial capital of Lang Son. On the other hand, the USSR also made it clear that it would escalate the conflict, probably by opening another front in Northern China (their military exercises in Mongolia just weeks after the war ended was an indicator) if the PLA was conduct more than a relatively limited and brief offensive.

Once the PLA crossed the border and the offensive began, the VPA was defeated by the PLA in virtually every single major engagement of the war. Of course, the PLA sustained more casualties than it should have, due to faults ranging from having outdated individual equipment all the way up to decisions made at the operational level. In any case, all major engagements concluded with the VPA withdrawing at best, or their units being effectively destroyed at worst. At the end, their provincial capital was captured and secured, while the VPA was in no position to counterattack and retake the city even despite pulling a couple divisions back from Cambodia as reinforcements. And when China unilaterally declared the war over, the VPA was powerless to stop the PLA from pillaging and plundering their way back to China. The war ended with China also holding on to almost all the areas that were disputed prior to the brief war. Given all the above, I fail to see how this conflict was particularly ill-fated for China.

To conclude, the biggest (and possibly only) reason why the PLA didn't run Hanoi over with a horde of armored vehicles was because of the threat of the Soviets launching an even bigger and better armored wall against China. What is also often forgotten is that after the war, the reformed PLA delivered numerous more severe beatings to the VPA throughout the 1980s until the end of the Cold War.

Source: Deng Xiaoping's Long War by Zhang Xiaoming, available on Google Books if anyone is interested in reading more
 
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