RECAP : MILITARY EXERCISE – INDIAN SUMMER: INDRADHANUSH 2015

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

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Its been close to a year since this exercise took place.
There has been many perceptions, opinions and on top un-necessary observations done on behalf of vested interests about the whole exercise and outcome
Some of the comments created controversy as well.
Below is a proper analysis carried out by a very good source.
It has been referred to me to have a detailed read and i am sharing the same.
Few of the major agenda point includes that Flankers and Typhoon both did this exercise at FULL POTENTIAL not under exercise mode .
Pls read through and enjoy some of the hottest snaps and fine details

Note: Pls dont derail this thread with trolling as this is an excellent topic of unique discussion.
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MILITARY EXERCISE – INDIAN SUMMER: INDRADHANUSH 2015
Posted by Elliott Marsh | Aug 6, 2015 |

JULY 2015 SAW INDIAN AIR FORCE SUKHOI SU-30 ‘FLANKERS’ AND THEIR ESCORTS DESCEND ON THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR EXERCISE INDRADHANUSH 2015.

In today’s unpredictable security and strategic environment, the deepening of alliances and fostering inter-operability is king. Military forces face an uncertain future that consists of rapid deployment to emerging hotspots in the face of shrinking budgets and operational force cuts – as such, the development of partnerships and understanding between allied nations has never held such importance.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

The co-operation between the Royal Air Force and the Indian Air Force (the Bharatiya Vayu Sena) is one that clearly goes back generations, traced back to World War One when ten Indian pilots flew with the Royal Flying Corps and has been accelerated over the years, most recently including the Nepal relief work earlier this year. The most prominent UK/India military exercise has been the Indradhanush operations (meaning ‘Rainbow’ in the Hindu religion). This was the fourth of its kind and the second to have taken place in the UK, the first being in 2007 when six Su-30MKIs deployed to RAF Waddington.

So it was that, in late July 2015 between 20-31st of this mixed-weather month, the Indian Air Force’s 2 Squadron ‘Winged Arrows’ deployed four HAL-built Su-30MKIs from 11 Wing at Tezpur AFS in Northern India for the 13hr, three-day transit over three continents to operate with the RAF’s Typhoon FGR4s of No 3(F) Squadron out of RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Supporting the deployment were a C-17A Globemaster III from India’s 81 Squadron/28 Wing ‘Skylords’, a C-130J-30 Hercules from 77 Squadron/28 Wing ‘Veiled Vipers’, both from Hindon AFS, as well as an Il-78MKI ‘Midas’ tanker from 78 Squadron/41 Wing based at Agra AFS. The Il-78MKI tanker and the C-130J-30 transport were taking part in the exercise itself, each stationed at RAF Brize Norton for the duration, whilst 190 personnel supported the entire Indian deployment.

Grp Capt Ashu Srivastav, leader of the Indian contingent. © Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

3(F) Squadron’s Wg Cdr Chris Moon. © Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

The exercise was designed to reinforce the strategic relationship between the UK and India and enhance the mutual operational understanding between the two air forces. ‘It helps in terms of diplomacy and future operations — you never know who you are going to need to partner with. We have a long and vested history with the Indians and it’s an amazing experience to work with them’, said Sqn Ldr Christian Jordan, OC 2 Sqn, RAF Regiment. The British Paratroopers worked with India’s Garud Commando Force (an IAF unit tasked with the protection of critical installations, SAR and humanitarian duties) out of RAF Honington and undertook multiple missions and para-drops from both Indian AF and RAF C-130Js flying from RAF Brize Norton.

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

The Indian AF ‘Flankers’ primarily worked with No 3(F) Squadron, which is commanded by Wg Cdr Chris Moon at RAF Coningsby. ‘We operated the exercise on a Crawl, Walk, Run basis’ explained Wg Cdr Moon. ‘The Crawl phase it was familiarisation sorties, getting used to UK airspace – though a few of the IAF pilots were trained at RAF Valley – and simple 1v1 sorties. Then we built up to 2v1, 2v2 and BVR, followed by the escalation into large force exercises with 8v8 BVR engagements’.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

The largest mission of the exercise was the final one, undertaken on the afternoon of 29 July with ten Blue Force (six Typhoons and four ‘Flankers’) against ten Red Air with the objective being for the Blue Force to escort the two Hercules (one IAF, one RAF) from ‘Blueland’ into ‘Redland’ for a para-drop.

‘We also swapped between Red and Blue Air, including DACT’ continued Wg Cdr Moon, ‘but we’ve been primarily working together with the IAF against other Typhoon squadrons as well as the aggressor Hawk T1s from No 100 Squadron at RAF Leeming. There was also some joint-nation working as ‘White Force’ for STANEVAL purposes out of the AWC at RAF Waddington.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

‘Whilst we are not likely to incur a 1v1 encounter with an aircraft like the Su-30 during our deployed ops to the Baltics for example, we do intercept Russian-built types and the chance for the Typhoon Force to go up against another, dissimilar high-performance aircraft was invaluable. It’s been great – you can read so much and be briefed so much on the ‘Flanker’ but it’s not until you’re up there with it that you see what it’s about. Between us, we operate two of the best dogfighters in the world, and it’s fair to say that the results have quite often come down to whoever was the best pilot on the day’.

Stephen Cohen · Jul 21, 2016

PARIKRAMA said:
FULL POTENTIAL not under exercise mode .

What about BARS being in Training Mode

We cannot just give away our secrets

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

Unlike the previous deployment, the IAF Su-30MKIs were permitted to use their full potential including their N011M radar, as well as the thrust vectoring control on their Lyulka AL-31FP engines. ‘We both have our strengths, the Typhoon is a ‘high-rate’ fighter and the ‘Flanker’s is a high-Alpha, slower-speed fighter’ continued Wg Cdr Moon. ‘We debrief over in the squadron and merge the tracks we fly and [are] able to read the Blue and Red Forces via RAIDS on the RAF jets and a similar system on the IAF jets, and you’ll be pleased to hear that the combined Typhoon and ‘Flanker’ package has been doing extremely well.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

‘We also simulated air-to-ground mission, and we have simulated EPW2 drops as well as Paveway IVs and the Indian AF has simulated a vast variety of weapons. We have learnt that we operate in a very similar manner. You’d expect the types to have different strengths – such as two-seat versus single, and we do have subtly different weapons – but we have learnt that we can integrate together, certainly when it comes to the planning, briefing and debriefing. There were very few surprises and we achieved all of our objectives.’ This was echoed by Sqn Ldr Avi Arya, a Qualified Weapons Instructor responsible for training pilots on the radar and weapons systems of the Su-30. He said: ‘Both are Fourth Generation aircraft and so are matched evenly, so the learning value comes from the person to person contact, it’s the man behind the machine which matters. All fighter pilots speak the same language, that’s the common thing we have and it’s very comfortable to learn from each other.’

Wg Cdr Moon’s No 3(F) Squadron took the lead but others were desperate to join the fight. ‘Of course, from second we knew they were coming we were bombarded with requests from all over the RAF for people to get involved in the exercise’ he said. ‘The Lossiemouth squadrons were not so involved due to logistics, but the Coningsby-based units have been involved at any chance they could.’

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

The pilots clearly relished the chance. Speaking shortly after his first encounter with the thrust-vectoring equipped Su-30MKI, Typhoon pilot Flt Lt Mike Highmoor had no doubt about the values of the bilateral exercise: ‘This is fantastic. It’s the first time I’ve flown against a ‘Flanker’ this morning and it’s fascinating to see another air force do its thing in a different aeroplane. Flying against an aircraft which is equally comparable to the Typhoon isn’t something we get to fight against on a regular basis in the UK. It’s very exciting. It’s an incredibly impressive fighter but the Typhoon is a good match for it.’

ebrahym · Jul 21, 2016

PARIKRAMA said:
The Indian AF ‘Flankers’ primarily worked with No 3(F) Squadron, which is commanded by Wg Cdr Chris Moon at RAF Coningsby. ‘We operated the exercise on a Crawl, Walk, Run basis’ explained Wg Cdr Moon. ‘The Crawl phase it was familiarisation sorties, getting used to UK airspace – though a few of the IAF pilots were trained at RAF Valley – and simple 1v1 sorties. Then we built up to 2v1, 2v2 and BVR, followed by the escalation into large force exercises with 8v8 BVR engagements’.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

The largest mission of the exercise was the final one, undertaken on the afternoon of 29 July with ten Blue Force (six Typhoons and four ‘Flankers’) against ten Red Air with the objective being for the Blue Force to escort the two Hercules (one IAF, one RAF) from ‘Blueland’ into ‘Redland’ for a para-drop.

‘We also swapped between Red and Blue Air, including DACT’ continued Wg Cdr Moon, ‘but we’ve been primarily working together with the IAF against other Typhoon squadrons as well as the aggressor Hawk T1s from No 100 Squadron at RAF Leeming. There was also some joint-nation working as ‘White Force’ for STANEVAL purposes out of the AWC at RAF Waddington.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

‘Whilst we are not likely to incur a 1v1 encounter with an aircraft like the Su-30 during our deployed ops to the Baltics for example, we do intercept Russian-built types and the chance for the Typhoon Force to go up against another, dissimilar high-performance aircraft was invaluable. It’s been great – you can read so much and be briefed so much on the ‘Flanker’ but it’s not until you’re up there with it that you see what it’s about. Between us, we operate two of the best dogfighters in the world, and it’s fair to say that the results have quite often come down to whoever was the best pilot on the day’.

are these the same exercises where india claimed all out victory against typhoons ????
:omghaha:

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

Opposing Flt Lt Highmoor on that first sortie was Sqn Ldr Amit Gehani who trained with the RAF in the UK. He said: ‘It’s going well. We’re flying a lot of missions that are proving our air combat missions. We brief on the ground, we go up there, set up the fights and thereafter it’s a free for all! The Typhoon is a good aircraft, a very powerful aircraft. The RAF pilots here are really amazing and flying with the Typhoon we’re learning a lot of new lessons, which we will take back to India. Of course we’re also giving some good points back to the Typhoon pilots.’

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

Leader of the Indian Contingent was Grp Capt Ashu Srivastav, a previous ‘Flanker’ squadron commander responsible for bringing the jets into IAF service and holding over 2,200hrs on the type. ‘Comparing the two fighters I have to be politically correct; both have got their plus and minus points, but I am going to say that the ‘Flanker’ probably has more plus points due to its super-manoeuvrability and BVR system is very good’ he said. ‘We are highly manoeuvrable in close combat and we employ the vectoring whenever we need to depending on the combat situation – generally speaking, we use it when we feel that the opponent is in a position where it cannot manoeuvre but we can, and so we can use TVC to still get the shot. We have had no restriction on IRS-T or the radar usage’. But Grp Capt Srivastav was keen to sing the Typhoon’s praises, saying ‘Typhoon is extremely good in high rates of turn and that has been great to see…’ before adding with a wry grin ‘But we have a counter for that…!’

‘Before the exercise started the RAF and IAF decided the parameters of the BVR missile launch ranges in order to operate in commonality’, Grp Capt Srivastav explained. ‘That has been the way we worked. We are here to share experience and fine-tune the way we operate, not engage in live combat, hence we used a common figure.

© Rich Cooper: www.facebook.com/rcprophoto & www.centreofaviationphotography.com

‘Of the 190 personnel we brought over, 20 were aircrew as a mix of 15 pilots and five WSOs with a cross-section of flight experience (pilots can fly as WSO but not vice-versa), which is representative of the way we work back home. Reliability has been very good, which is why we only needed to bring four aircraft this time round and, as of late last year and after a decade of development, HAL now has a full thrust-vectoring maintenance facility so we no longer need to send them to Russia for overhaul. In terms of the future, we have an upgrade planned for a better radar (possibly Zhuk AESA) and weapons systems (potentially including full integration of the Novator KS-172 AAM and BrahMos cruise missile), and are looking forward to welcoming the RAF back to India next year.’

The value that both the IAF and the RAF put on this exercise was abundantly clear. But, no matter what the outcome of the dogfight and pitting the nimble, skilled Typhoon force against the brutish ‘Flankers’, there was one thing that was clear as summarised by Wg Cdr Moon. ‘The RAF and IAF both pride ourselves on operating some of the leading edge technical equipment in the world. However without the people to support that we are nothing so that’s where our real strength lies’. No doubt, the opportunity to foster such relationships will only become more important as time moves on.

http://www.globalaviationresource.c...ary-exercise-indian-summer-indradhanush-2015/

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Stephen Cohen · Jul 21, 2016

@PARIKRAMA

SUKHOIS look like Mean and Angry Birds

@PARIKRAMA

Many thanks for this Beautiful thread

You have Taken a lot of time and efforts for posting this

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

Stephen Cohen said:
What about BARS being in Training Mode

We cannot just give away our secrets

PARIKRAMA said:
Unlike the previous deployment, the IAF Su-30MKIs were permitted to use their full potential including their N011M radar, as well as the thrust vectoring control on their Lyulka AL-31FP engines. ‘We both have our strengths, the Typhoon is a ‘high-rate’ fighter and the ‘Flanker’s is a high-Alpha, slower-speed fighter’ continued Wg Cdr Moon. ‘We debrief over in the squadron and merge the tracks we fly and [are] able to read the Blue and Red Forces via RAIDS on the RAF jets and a similar system on the IAF jets, and you’ll be pleased to hear that the combined Typhoon and ‘Flanker’ package has been doing extremely well.

We did use the full potential bcz this also involved BVR exercises

a_b said:
are these the same exercises where india claimed all out victory against typhoons ????

Pls dont start this unnecessary thing. Its a request. Pls refer post 1 where i said some comments created unnecessary controversy.
Lets stick to the topic

Stephen Cohen said:
@PARIKRAMA

SUKHOIS look like Mean and Angry Birds

@PARIKRAMA

Many thanks for this Beautiful thread

You have Taken a lot of time and efforts for posting this

Thank you my good friend and brother,,

They look good. What is really good in this article is how the exercise had so many different aspects.. Read through and its joy really..

Some of the points they made is what has been discussed many times in PDF but its heartening to hear it from horse's mouth

Stephen Cohen · Jul 21, 2016

PARIKRAMA said:
We did use the full potential bcz this also involved BVR exercises

So what will the Russians have to say about that

And Previously we read that BARS is operated in Training mode to prevent
its rivals snooping the frequencies

So have we compromised with its secrets

@PARIKRAMA
This is what is found on another site

Also, 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.

“Both the IAF and RAF used the full capabilities of their onboard radars, albeit in training mode, which meant 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.”

PARIKRAMA · Jul 21, 2016

Stephen Cohen said:
So what will the Russians have to say about that

And Previously we read that BARS is operated in Training mode to prevent
its rivals snooping the frequencies

So have we compromised with its secrets

The Bars Radar itself has come a long way from the point of what was initially provided to us in the Su30 MKI package. We had been tinkering and upgrading it for close to a decade now.

Russians wont say No to it bcz the fact remains the data generated also enables them to understand how the more advanced flankers and potentially AESA radars will fare against Typhoon in case of an engagement.

Bear in mind pilot to pilot discussion will reveal much more.

Anyways BARS is now going to be replaced soon in Super Upgrade as well.

More details are there in this link:
http://vayu-sena.tripod.com/info-su30mki.html#8

Stephen Cohen said:
This is what is found on another site

Also, 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.

“Both the IAF and RAF used the full capabilities of their onboard radars, albeit in training mode, which meant 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.”

Here it says that

We have had no restriction on IRS-T or the radar usage’. But Grp Capt Srivastav was keen to sing the Typhoon’s praises, saying ‘Typhoon is extremely good in high rates of turn and that has been great to see…’ before adding with a wry grin ‘But we have a counter for that…!

PARIKRAMA said:
Leader of the Indian Contingent was Grp Capt Ashu Srivastav, a previous ‘Flanker’ squadron commander responsible for bringing the jets into IAF service and holding over 2,200hrs on the type. ‘Comparing the two fighters I have to be politically correct; both have got their plus and minus points, but I am going to say that the ‘Flanker’ probably has more plus points due to its super-manoeuvrability and BVR system is very good’ he said. ‘We are highly manoeuvrable in close combat and we employ the vectoring whenever we need to depending on the combat situation – generally speaking, we use it when we feel that the opponent is in a position where it cannot manoeuvre but we can, and so we can use TVC to still get the shot. We have had no restriction on IRS-T or the radar usage’. But Grp Capt Srivastav was keen to sing the Typhoon’s praises, saying ‘Typhoon is extremely good in high rates of turn and that has been great to see…’ before adding with a wry grin ‘But we have a counter for that…!’

Mustang06 · Jul 21, 2016

When can we expect similar recap of this years Red Flag? I really want to know how the Jaguars performed!

ebrahym · Jul 21, 2016

PARIKRAMA said:
Pls dont start this unnecessary thing. Its a request. Pls refer post 1 where i said some comments created unnecessary controversy.
Lets stick to the topic

sir yes sir :victory1:

anant_s · Jul 21, 2016

Lovely set of pictures and Information.
Indian Flankers do look majestic in flight :toast_sign:

Blue Marlin · Jul 21, 2016

our typhoons are still better

John Reese · Jul 21, 2016

Blue Marlin said:
our typhoons are still better

Maybe But Our Sukhoi are Beauty Full And Eye Catching
:smitten:

Lets Not Deviate From Thread Subject Please

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RECAP : MILITARY EXERCISE – INDIAN SUMMER: INDRADHANUSH 2015

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