Su30 seems to be in advantageous position than F16 but their are many aspects that has to be kept in mind.
F16 is the most proven combat jet fighter in history and none can deny that. So F16 has a reputation to live upto.
Su30 is a biiiig plane, a wide wing span, two big engines, lots of heat thus high RCS which is a big disadvantage in front of any potent fourth generation battle proven jet like F-16.
RCS does not depend on heat. RCS purely depends structural anomalies which reflects back the radar waves to the transmitter; unlike F22 which deflects it in a other direction or absorbs them.
Engine heat - will be a problem if a missile with passive seeker is fired.But there are counter measure to these.
Imagine these -- F15 another succesfull fighter (impeccable record) is a twin engined beast and very similar to MKI. It hasnt faced this problem yet.
Most of the specs clearly speaks in favour of MKI such as its radar range is almost 350Km for bigger targets but question is when it will be able to track small fighter having really low RCS. MKI's radar is mainly for bigger targets than an F16 but F16/52 BVR missle AMRAAM considered the best in world and can track MKI from a large distance. Thus radar range advantage of MKI is mitigated here.
F16 RCS is low but not that low. In all probability MKI will be the first one to look at the F16 and fire a shot at F16-- This would be to purely to gain tactical advantage. .i.e Fire the missile , so that F16 pilot will not have time to fire his AMRAM (he will be on defensive). AMRAM is a potent missile --
possibly the best but you should know that Of the 15 fired in combat , only 6 have hit their target. --- I dont have the source - but this is public knowledge
I will try post more on how to defect AMRAM.
As far maneuverability of both jets is concerned!!! both are renowned for high maneuverability. Thus no advantage for any jet here.
MKI has thrust vectoring but big size, F16 doesn't have thrust vectoring but small size and highly maneuverable design.
MKI has higher speed , better TWR ration , good ECM , great payload and more important --
HUGE NUMBERS -- 124 inducted at the moment ,will be going upto 270's.
aim 120d not with pakistan --atleast not yet.
In a dogfight.
PAF pilots is one of the Most experienced air forces which has used F-16 . Over 30+ years of Pilot experience with Vipers mean something!!
This point hardly makes sense in a debate --- Experience is a relative term ! You really cant measure it or compare it with any other AF.
IAF pilots has more than 10 years of exp on Su 30 ...almost 3 decades on Mig 29....priceless experience on russian fighters...they know the limits of russian fighters and how to fight with it --- further they are refining it with excercises with other AF's.
So you see , you really cannot compare. It is pointless.
Su-30 is highly maneuverable but F-16 can beat its TVC advantage by smart electronics and Infrared guided weapons and not to forget JHMCS.
Smart electronics ....you do know that MKI has Israeli ECM...they are very much comparable to American ECM. Point to note that -- Israelis have their own ECM (Elsira , i believe) in their F16 and similarly for their F15.... they did not opt for the American ECM.
JHMCS -- is further evolution of DASH helmet mounted system from Elbit. Su 30 MKI has topsight I from thales which is very good also...dont see that much of a difference.
Now pilots ability also counts in such battles apart of machine, and PAF pilots are renowned world's best pilots with lot of appreciation from around the world for their abilities.
That is BS....as far as i am concerned -- pilots from any country are good (except maybe Arabs).IAF is not exactly a sitting duck for your pilots to come and take a shot at it.
Anyways you cant compare , that is my point.
Thus I proved my point that potent jet can easily beat Su30 MKI, which is truly hyped up jet.
F16 is legendary --- my respect for that. It would be interesting to see the combat. However --- you can look at from this perspective ...Can F16 beat F15 (similar to MKI in mission profile). Maybe sometimes --- but can F15 beat F16 ---most definetly yes.
Even in F16s PAF pilots in Turkey flying against Typhoon has killed Typhoon three out of three times in a dog fight..
You know waqas bhai , pilots bragging about the exploits is another matter ...and plane is another matter....Typhoon is not yet a mature fighter , pilots still are taking their time to learn the aircraft. You know in cope india -- Mig 21 Bison downed F15 many times --- what does that prove ? Nothing ...it was just bragging...
On a side note -- i dont know how that pilot can be even aithorised to say all these.