Israel Airforce

SPIKER SG

Report: IAF whips US pilots in exercise
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN

http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/24.Sep.1999/News/Article-3.html

TEL AVIV (September 24) - A recent joint exercise between the IAF and US Navy Sixth Fleet pilots apparently resulted in a thorough routing of the US pilots, according to the latest edition of Air Force Monthly.

The American-based magazine said the exercise in question took place in the Negev skies and involved engagements between IAF F-16s and US Navy F-14s and F/A-18s.

Quoting Israeli military sources, the magazine said one of the exercises ended with the score of 40:1 in favor of the IAF. The magazine said Israel "downed" 220 aircraft for the loss of just 20 of its own.

It said that the results have not been officially published "to save the reputations of the US Navy pilots."

The magazine did not say when the exercise took place. But security sources said that the dogfights took place about three months ago. They said the exercise was the first time that Israeli pilots actually took part in the maneuvers and didn't just give logistical support. Israeli pilots have also flown with various flight academies as guests or students.

The IAF said it does not give detailed results of training exercises. But air force commanders were said to be incensed by the report. While refusing to confirm or deny the report, military sources said neither Israel or the US had officially released the "scores."

"We showed an arrogance we didn't mean to display," one senior IAF officer said.

SPIKER SG

Another related one

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/986951/posts

Israeli Air Force defeats Germans

Jerusalem, Sept. 22: Israeli Air Force pilots handily beat their German counterparts in dogfights in the first-ever Air Force exercise between the two countries, an Israeli military official said on Monday.

The Israeli F-15 pilots, aided by special technology that Israel does not share or sell to other countries, beat the Germans by more than 100 hits, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the past, Israel has beaten American Air Force pilots by similar margins, the officials added. Israel purchases US warplanes without battle technology, installing its own locally made systems into the aircraft.

The exercise was conducted over the past two weeks in the skies of Sardinia in Italy.

|-|05| SG

until the Germans get the Eurofighter they are stuck with crap....like MiG-29s and F-4s!
Cant comment on the rest as i've always heard good things abt the IAF

SingaporeMacross SG

If not you think they can win the arab wars??

IAF SG

Hooray for the IAF! Mr. Green

Atobe SG

The news article was first published on 24 September 1999 - if you noticed the date on the top line.

Today's date is 26 September 2003.

Nothing remains static in life.

It was probably a wake-up call for the US Navy 'Top Guns' not to be too gung-ho to their own personal flying abilities or to the technological capabilities of their equipment.

IAF SG

Originally posted by Atobe:
The news article was first published on 24 September [b]1999 - if you noticed the date on the top line.

Today's date is 26 September 2003.

Nothing remains static in life.

It was probably a wake-up call for the US Navy 'Top Guns' not to be too gung-ho to their own personal flying abilities or to the technological capabilities of their equipment.

[/b]

IMO, because of their high operational tempo, usn pilots are usually more experienced and skilled than usaf counterparts. iirc, i believe this 1999 slaughter of usn by iaf was subsequently followed by another debacle when they had exercised again, which i read in AFM (sorry can't remember which issue)

if you join the dots, iaf > usn > usaf > rsaf (cos' we are trained by usaf)...i think we still got alot to catch up Rolling Eyes

SPIKER SG

Originally posted by IAF:
[

if you join the dots, iaf > usn > usaf > rsaf (cos' we are trained by usaf)...i think we still got alot to catch up Rolling Eyes [/b]

Dunno if RSAF train with IAF or not. But RSAF certainly have more to gain by training with IAF instead of USAF particularly in dogfight.

tankee1981 SG

I heard that the RSAF wins the USAF from time to time during red flag exercises. This shows that we are roughly the same standard as them if not slightly better! Any pilots here can verify this? Very Happy

Laplace SG

I don't think any RSAF pilots have engaged their USAF counterparts in mock combat and won trophies for it. According to an officer form my camp, the RSAF maintenance crew have won trophies before for excellence in support and one squadron got the "Curtis LeMay" Trophy once. The CT cup is given to the attack/bomber outfit which performed the best bomb run (navigation, release etc)

The IAF pilots are truly the supreme elite of the world. Tom Clancy described in his book that children with potential are noted by their academic supervisors (secondary school teachers, PE coaches and outdoor activity counsellors etc) who submit yearly assessment reports to the manpower branch of the MoD. This is called "talent scouting"

Pilot recruitees have their background scrutinized and apparently only males of strong Jewish backgrounds are considered. Me thinks this has something to do with the government wanting to form a military aristocracy in the "white arm" of the service.

Cohorts of would-be potentials are subjected to a week long march in sunburned arid areas and are deprived of sleep and given meager rations of food and water. The purpose of this trial is to weed out those who are mentally fortified from the whole lot whom are already physically superb specimens. The motto "Fighter first, pilot second" truly applies.

So by the time the selected batch of pilot trainees sit down for their first introductory lesson, every single one of them are already the cream of the crop of Israeli society. And I haven't gone on to the course dropouts/washouts yet!

"Train hard - fight easy"