Frogbox
Some more detail - note the author!
The New Air Superiority Benchmark.
Thursday the 19th of February 2004 will mark the day when the undisputed king of air superiority had to surrender its thirty-year
crown to a newcomer.
It happened over the skies of Windermere, in the scenic English Lake District. Two Eurofighter Typhoon twin-seaters were on the first RAF formation training flight from Warton Aerodrome when they were bounced from the eight o'clock by a couple of F-15Es belonging to the USAFE's 48th TFW, probably the most formidable and experienced combat unit in the European theatre.
The Typhoon crew did not seem to be intimidated, and with two rapid counters ended up on the F-15 tail, comfortably gunning the trailing one, who was in full afterburner, wings rocking and wondering what had happened.
It is fair to expect that the most surprised by this first encounter result would be the F15 crew, used to dominate the skies since the mid-seventies and with an exchange ratio record of 101 wins to zero losses, and a bunch of die-hard Eurofighter critics without much knowledge of the new fighter air combat capabilities. It is understandable if the RAF rookies would also show their surprise at the outcome, as one does not expect to win an air engagement on the first training sortie with a brand new machine against one of the best combat units in the world, riding what up to now has been the best fighter in history.
But that is history now! Those definitely not surprised by what the events over the Lake District skies signify are the top echelon in the Air Combat Command, the Chief of Staff and the RAND Corp. analysts and boffins.
They have been saying for years that the F-15 is no match to the new generation of European fighters and even to the Su-35 Flanker. They know what they say: their operational analyses studies and other simulated evaluations-as indeed have ours, both at the industry and government level-have shown that the F-15 is unable to gain air superiority against Eurofighter Typhoon. Now they have the first real indication that their worries were not unjustified and that the F/A-22 was the right choice, if they want to maintain the air superiority also in the future.
Let me quote some of their concerns over the years:
The current USAF Chief of Staff, Gen. John P. Jumper, when was the head of Air Combat Command in 2001, said, "We 've had a chance to look at this latest generation of airplanes," and when US pilots flying real or simulated threat airplanes go against US pilots in current US fighters, "our guys flying their airplanes beat our guys flying our airplanes....And that airplane we 're flying is the F-15."
"I 've got 2,000 hours in the F-15," noted Brig. Gen. Daniel P. Leaf, the head of operational requirements. "It is a fabulous airplane. It is the undefeated heavy-weight champion of air superiority." Even so, he said, "it 's still a 1970s-designed airplane, updated to the max. [It is ] nonstealthy, non super-cruise. And you can only make it do so much....You have to build a new airplane. So we are."
Lt. Gen. Bruce A. Carlson, then director of operational requirements for the Air Force, said that "if we run the F-15 against the Rafale, or Typhoon, or Su-35, we would probably lose those fights."
"Typhoon will easily outstrip the capabilities of the Su-35 /-37, as well as the F-15, and in fact is considered second only to the F-22 in capability. Typhoon is more maneuverable and has better radar detection capability than the F-15 and is harder to detect on radar."
(All the citations are from the AIR FORCE Magazine, the USAF monthly publication).
The Air Forces of Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have known for a long time through the operational analysis studies conducted in defining the project, in re-evaluating it after the Cold War defence re-orientation phase that Eurofighter
Typhoon is second only to the vastly more expensive F/A-22 and that it will assure overwhelming superiority over any current and future air threat.
Export customers in Austria, Greece and Norway have expressed
their confidence in Eurofighter Typhoon's capabilities by either
procuring, selecting or seriously considering it for their air power
needs in the 21st century. Many other leading edge Air Forces are looking with great interest at Eurofighter Typhoon as it enters service and demonstrates its unparalleled capabilities. We do not think that there is much of a debate about the need for air superiority, but there is a lack of appreciation for where air
superiority comes from. There is a general feeling that it just
happens or it belongs to us. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We have air superiority because we had four Air Forces that paid
attention to the lessons of history, specified and developed the
appropriate weapon systems and move them forward. They know that "if we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and we lose it quickly" and that whoever controls the air generally controls the surface.
Eurofighter Typhoon, designed as a multirole fighter with air
superiority as its key driver, is now ready to move forward and add significant new air-to-surface capabilities and further extend its air-to-air dominance.
O. Fabbro - Eurofighter GmbH - Market Analysis
Hallbergmoos, 23 February 2004