Basically, Cesar Rodriguez in his F-15 shot down an Iraqi MIG-29. US SpecOps troops found the MIG wreckage, recovered some avionics components, and sent those components for technical analysis. It turned out the MIG's HUD camera recorded the MIG's demise.
Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez gives a remarkable account of how he brought down three enemy fighters, two during Desert Storm and one during Allied Force.
www.thedrive.com
Here is the image of the Sparrow missile right before impact...
There are other interesting bits about combat aviation in general.
I could see his lock on my RWR. [I found out later that between the Rivet Joint and my electronic warfare that his radar was being jammed appropriately and as a result he couldn't employ any of his weapons against me].
Rivet Joint and AWACS are not the same even though they have some overlapping technical capabilities. AWACS is more about management. Rivet Joint is about working the airspace
INSIDE the EM spectrum. Rivet Joint was watching Rodriguez's six, so to speak.
...we had rules of engagement that required anything inside of 10 miles to be visually identified. The rules were written like this due to our ability with the radar in certain scenarios to “see” the
F-117 Nighthawk. In hindsight, the way you write that is: when you are operating with an F-117, or at night in conjunction with an F-117, if you have a lock inside of 10 miles you have to identify it.
The F-117 and later low radar observable platforms were never 'invisible'. We never claimed they are. Only hyperbolic media contents said so and always misled the public. But what happens is that within a certain distance, the F-117
WILL be a constant radar return. Back in Desert Storm, that distance is less than 10 miles. Back then, the F-15 carries among the largest airborne radars and still had to get within 'no escape' zone in order to 'see' the F-117. That 'no escape' zone works both ways. If you can 'see' the F-22 or F-35, they can also 'see' you, but they would 'see' you far sooner and farther away. You be dead. And maybe your HUD camera can record your last moments on Earth.
The AWACS was notoriously about three miles off in their range estimations. So it could have been 13 miles or seven miles.
Perfectly understandable and every pilot knows it. The issue is physics and electronics, and not just US AWACS have this. You have the detector and target both moving in 3D space. Sometimes they are closing. Sometimes they moving apart. And the AWACS has to do this for just about all targets it acquired. There is only so much physical memory space in its avionics.
He was at about 400 feet and I was 600-700 feet above the desert...
I was still about 1,400 feet behind the MiG, but I wasn't thinking about using the gun. He suddenly rolled inverted from 300 feet and started a Split-S maneuver, and of course, that wasn't going to work for him. He hit the desert floor and ended up tumbling in a big fireball.
The split-S is a
DESCENDING maneuver. You roll inverted then stick back into a 1/2 loop. At the end, you would be heading in the opposite direction at a
LOWER ALTITUDE. This is a perfect example of poor situational awareness (SA) on the Iraqi pilot. The minimum altitude required for a split-S depends on the airplane, its current load, and its airspeed. It means there is no fixed minimum altitude for the split-S. Not even a clean F-16 config-ed for an airshow would do a split-S at 300 ft altitude.
Here is how the Blue Angels perform the split-S...
From 200 ft altitude, the jets
GAINED altitude before executing the split-S.
In this particular incident, the Iraqi pilot basically got scared. At 300 ft altitude, the MIG basically had only 2D space to maneuver. If he climb he will be completely vulnerable to Rodriguez's missile or gun because the F-15's radar will see a broadside -- the MIG's top surface. At 1400 ft separation between the combatants, even a gun would be near instantaneous.
...when my body reaches a level of adrenaline in a life and death situation I go into a severe series of tremors and shakes. So when we came out of this fight and got on the tanker to get some gas I thought it was time to start relaxing. I suddenly started to feel significant vibrations, and at first, I thought it was something wrong with the jet. I let go of the stick and grabbed the towel racks [hand grab rails on the canopy arch] and the jet leveled off and all was fine. It felt like forever, but was probably only a minute or so of serious convulsions going through my body. I didn’t think anything of it and certainly didn’t tell the flight doc!
You do not have to go thru combat to experience what Rodriguez went thru. Top Gun, Red Flag, and Weapons School will give you the same shakes. You do not like anyone behind you even in an exercise and your opponent is a 'good guy'.
Rodriguez says that as the war progressed, the F-15C’s prowess led to more pilots becoming keen to put their training into practice and claim more aerial victories...With 32 overall “kills,” the F-15C had proved its ability to surgically target and eliminate the enemy fighters with impunity.
This is psychologically important borderline critical. If a platform have never been in combat and even though the platform have been put thru different simulated/training scenarios, there will always be a certain amount of hesitation on whether the platform will perform as advertised. Desert Storm essentially lowered that hesitation to the minimum level across all US airpower assets. This is why debrief is critical. The information recorded will be analyzed and disseminate throughout the force. Every operator of every platform, airplane or ship or tank, will gain more confidence in using them. The operators will become more aggressive and proactive in every situation. Essentially, if he can do it, so can I.
The corollary is that as the platform gained successes in combat, the psychological reverse will occur. Our potential opponents will re-assess what they have and how have they been using them.
This rule is supreme...
In a fight, you win not by fighting under your opponent's rules, but by forcing him to fight under yours. And cheating is allowed.
As more 'kills' are reported, potential adversary pilots will become hesitant in putting their jets to the fullest capabilities. They will wonder: Did the other guys who lost performed to their fullest?
Desert Storm is 30+ yrs old and people are starting to pooh-pooh it. I say go for it. Their countries' pilots will pay the price for that disdain.