Cope India Redux

Quite a while ago, I wrote a post on the Cope India exercise. This was a cooperative exercise between the USAF and the Indian Air Force. The surprising outcome of the exercise was Indian victory, to the tune of roughly a 90% kill ratio. At the time, I suggested that the USAF and the IAF had cooked the exercise; the IAF wanted to demonstrate its strength to Pakistan and India, while the USAF wanted to demonstrate its weakness to Congress, thereby “proving” the necessity of large numbers of F-22s.

Bill Rice at By Dawn’s Early Light has a more substantial discussion of the exercise. It’s clear that the game was cooked to guarantee an Indian victory. Bill acknowledges the IAF incentive and the idea that producing a rationale for buying the F-22 was part of the incentive for the USAF. However, he argues that the USAF had an ulterior motive; it wanted to get a good look at the Su-30, an advanced aircraft that the Indians have and that the Chinese have been buying in some numbers.

I don’t really see the connection. The premise seems to be that the IAF would only use the Su-30 if it was guaranteed to win. I think the IAF would have an incentive to use the Su-30 in the exercise regardless of outcome, if only to determine the effectiveness of the fighter against the best possible opponents. But, this is a relatively small quibble with a very informative post. If you like fighters, give it a read.