The Sukhoi-Rafale Duo
The Indian Air Force is currently receiving its brand new Dassault Rafales that are the most dominant aircraft of whole Indian-subcontinent, while the backbone of the Indian Air Force, the Su-30MKI’s are no less with a quite list of the achievements and records. The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a twin engine 4.5th generation heavyweight aircrafts designated for air dominance role whereas, Rafale is a French-origin twin engine medium weight 4.5 generation aircraft capable of performing all kinds of missions.
The Indian Air Force operates some world class equipment like the French built Dassault Rafale and the Russian made Su- 30, however the reason of unique strength of Indian Air Force is because of fusion of such technological wonders. The Indian Air Force is currently receiving its brand new Dassault Rafales that are the most dominant aircraft of whole Indian- subcontinent, while the backbone of Indian Air Force, the Su-30 MKI’s are no less with a quite long list of the achievements and records. The diversity in inventory of IAF is also a reason for creating logistical and geopolitical problems, however on top of everything, it’s one of the most important reasons why Indian Air Force have some unique mix of technologies like the C-17 Globemaster and IL-76 transport aircraft, Mi-35 and Apache attack helicopters and now Dassault Rafale and Sukhoi-30 MKI. The Sukhoi-Rafale duo is unique and can perform every role perfectly; currently these aircraft are the main workhorses of Indian Air Force and represents capability of the air force.
Brief introduction to both aircraft
The Sukhoi 30 MKI is a twin engine 4.5th generation heavyweight aircraft designated for air dominance role. The aircraft is extremely maneuverable because of its 2-D thrust vectoring control, canards and enormous maximum thrust of 246 KNs by its two AL-31FP engines. The Sukhoi 30 MKI is an excellent dogfighter because of its extreme maneuverability; further its pylons and mighty weight carrying capacity allow the aircraft to load diverse weapons and systems.
The Sukhoi-30 MKI has 12 weapon stations capable of loading Indian, Russian and Israeli weapons. The aircraft can be equipped with weapons like the Israeli Derby (planned), Russian R-73, R-77 and Indian Astra MK-1 in air-air role, with extremely accurate guided weapons like BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, DRDO SAAW, Spice 2000 and KAB- 1500L bombs in air-surface role. The aircraft have enhanced electronic-warfare capabilities with advanced Israeli ELL 8222 and SAP-14/518 jamming pods with other French, Indian and Israeli sub-systems.
The N011M Bars radar of Su-30 MKI is also one of the world’s most powerful radar with capability to detect objects from a large distance of 400 kms and track 15 objects simultaneously, the Sukhoi-30s are also known as mini-AWACS because of power of the Bars.
The Dassault Rafale is a French-origin twin engine medium weight 4.5 generation aircraft capable of performing all kinds of missions because of its “Omni-Role” characteristics. The Dassault Rafale is the most advanced aircraft in its category, it is a perfect aircraft for missions involving BVR warfare and deep punitive strikes.
The Dassault Rafale has 14 hard-points capable of loading a wide range of French weaponry and systems. The aircraft can carry various weapons like Paveway laser guided bombs, nuclear missiles, targeting pods with mainstay weapon being Hammer AASM guided weapons and Scalp missile in air- ground role with Mica missile and Meteor BVRAAM missile in air-air role. The electronic-warfare capability of Rafale is unquestionable with its SPECTRA EW suite that gives aircraft some next generation capabilities in EW. The aircraft is specially designed to reduce the cross-sectional area with features like small physical structure and high composite content, making it extremely difficult for any system to detect the aircraft.
The aircraft is powered by two Snecma M-88 engines that are capable of generating maximum thrust of 150 KNs, the engines are extremely maintenance friendly and gives aircraft capability to super-cruise with additional payload. The Dassault Rafale has closed couple canards and a delta shaped body with high composite content that makes the aircraft extremely maneuverable because of its perfect thrust to weigh ratio.
Why Sukhoi-Rafale mix only?
As we can observe that both aircraft are extremely potent individually, however their capability increases by multiple folds after being operated alongside under a same air force. The Su-30MKI-Dassault Rafale mix is suitable for any operation, no matter whether it’s Beyond Visual range (BVR) or Within Visual range (WVR) combat, whether its ability to launch long range standoff weapons or to conduct punitive raids like Balakot strike.
What each mission would look like
Air to Surface role: The Air-Surface roles are mainly conducted either deep inside enemy territory or by launching long range standoff weapons without even entering enemy’s airspace. While long range standoff weapons usually create more destruction, deep punitive strikes inside hostile territory have more long lasting physiological impact like Balakot strike. The Sukhoi-Rafale duo can perform any kind of air to surface role with excellence.
Punitive strikes: The Dassault Rafale is the most suitable aircraft for punitive
strikes. The aircraft can carry advanced air to surface weapons like the Safran Hammer which are known for their accuracy from their different mode of guidance like GPS, laser and IR guidance in different variants (range and warhead sizes). The Rafales, because of its low cross sectional area and electronic-warfare capabilities, are extremely hard to detect.
At the same time Su-30 MKIs master “the art of deception” which is a critical element for success of such strikes. The Sukhoi-30 MKI would make themselves visible to enemy radar and system, and would concentrate all the counter actions of enemy towards them, that in turn would make it extremely easier for real strike package to conduct strikes. It is a matter of fact that Sukhoi’s performed such task even in Balakot strike to make mission much easier for real strike package of Mirage2000s. The Su-30 MKI can carry similar air-ground weapons like Mirage-2000s but aren’t designated for deep strikes and raids because of huge cross-sectional area and vulnerability to radars.
Long Range standoff weapons: Both Su-30 MKI’s and Rafale can be equipped with long- range standoff weapons like BrahMos and Scalp missiles, both the weapons are world class and are far better than anything similar to them in their roles.
Scalp missile: The Scalp missile armed on the Rafale is a conventionally armed standoff missile with a maximum range of 560 kms and ability to carry a 450 kg warhead. The Scalp missile is guided initially with inertial navigation, GPS, terrain mapping and uses IR homing during terminal phase. The weapon is structurally stealthy, highly accurate and has extreme low flying ability with a speed of around 1000km/h. The Scalp has proven to be extremely efficient in multiple missions around the globe and was used as recently as Syrian Civil war where each Rafale was equipped with two Scalp missiles. The missile can be extremely efficient against enemy because of its high success rate, difficult interception and comparatively less price.
BrahMos– A: The BrahMos- A is the aerial variant of BrahMos missile equipped on Su-30MKIs. The BrahMos-A weighs around 2.5 tons with a range of approximately 500kms and ability to carry around 300 kgs of the warhead, further BrahMos is the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile with a speed of 3500+ km/h and an ability to skim as low as 10 meters that makes it nearly impossible to intercept missile. The BrahMos is of great significance to Indian Air Force, as a result IAF has deployed a whole squadron of BrahMos equipped Sukhoi’s in Tamil Nadu for strong dominance in Indian Ocean region and conveyed a strong message by testing BrahMos off Sukhoi-30 MKI amidst IndoChina skirmish previous year.
Air to Air Combat: The Air to Air combat are majorly conducted in beyond visual range these days, however the within visual range combats also do happen. Unlike WVR combat, the BVR combat mainly depends on BVR missiles and the kill probability of a BVR missile depends on various factors like altitude and speed of enemy or launching aircraft, some BVR missiles like French Meteor and American AMRAAMs usually have higher kill probability than other counterparts.
BVR Combat: The Rafale is the most dominant fighter in BVR because of its features like modern AESA radar, EW capabilities and missiles like MICA ER and Meteor. The Meteor missiles are the main reason for advantage that Dassault Rafale holds in BVR combat, the missiles are often classified as ‘World’s best BVR missile’ that are specially known for their unique ramjet propulsion and design to gives them a mighty range, extreme maneuverability and high kill probability even against strong electronic countermeasures.
The Sukhois on the other hand have powerful Bars radar that can also assist significantly in BVR combat by giving aircraft capabilities like early detection of enemy aerial assets and capability to track 15 objects at once. The aircraft is reportedly equipped and tested with several missiles like Astra MK-1, R-77, I-Derby and the rumoured K-100 AWACS killer missiles in medium-long range BVR combat. The aircraft also have vastly great EW capabilities because of its Israeli ELL-8222 and Russian SAP-14/518 jamming pods that also ensures the ability of aircraft to defend itself against enemy’s BVR missiles.
However, the Sukhoi-30 MKIs had some problems in BVR combat capability
because of old variants of Russian R-77 missiles that had comparatively less range and inferior performance against modern countermeasures. The potential of BVR combat of Su- 30 MKI has improved a lot than in the past, as now they are most likely to be equipped with better missiles like improved R77-1 and indigenous Astra MK-1, with plans to integrate the aircraft with missiles like Israeli Derby, indigenous Astra MK-2 and Astra MK-3 and even more advanced versions of Russian R-77 are also in list.
WVR Combat: The Rafale has closed couple canards and light composite built structure with 150 KNs of maximum thrust that makes the aircraft extremely agile and gives it a quiet good thrust to weigh ratio, the aircraft have some impressive features like maximum speed of 2222 km/h, GIAT M791 30mm auto-cannon and ability to super-cruise to ensure their endurance. The most important weapon of Rafale in WVR combat is MICA IR missile with an infrared homing seeker to improve kill probability in short-medium range, the MICA missile also has a TVC system to enhance missiles maneuverability and is capable of efficiently countercountermeasures like chaffs and fl ares, the missile also provide infrared input to aircraft and works as an additional sensor with already existing Opto- electrical Infrared Search and track (IRST) sensor.
The Sukhoi’s on the other hand despite being much heavier than Rafale are unbeatable in WVR combat and are often addressed as one of the ‘most maneuverable’ aircraft ever built because of their‘ supermaneuverability ’. The aircraft has some impressive features in WVR combat like canards, 2-D TVC system, mighty overall thrust of 246 KNs, max speed of 2,120 Kms/h, powerful GSH-30-1 30mm autocannon and large internal fuel reserves to bolster their endurance. The aircraft can carry R-73 IR homing missile (it is claimed to be the same missile with which IAF Mig-21 shot down a PAF F-16), along with different variants of R-27s also for WVR combat with a much powerful OLS laseroptical IRST scanner.
The Su- 30MKIs were previously extensively upgraded from Su-30MK to MKI standards that had already solved numerous limitations, however they still have some problems regarding less operational availability, some old analog technologies and in BVR combat. The Su30 MKI were questioned for having less operational availability of around 55% in many quarters previously, other problems include that they have a PESA radar against modern AESA radar that are lighter in weight, more effective with BVR missiles and are quite difficult to jam further regarding BVR combat, integration of new BVR missile have already sharpened the sword but still it seems a minor upgrade against capability of aircraft. Looking forward to all these constraints and enormous power of aircraft, the IAF is planning to upgrade whole fleet of 272 Sukhois to a ‘ Super Sukhoi’ standard in future and equip them with more indigenous components like Uttam AESA radar and Astra missiles.
The Rafale is one of the most technologically superior aircraft currently, however as the technology around the globe is evolving rapidly it is also necessary to upgrade the aircraft in accordance to time. The Rafale will remain one of the most advanced aircraft for next few decades and ofcourse at some point get a mid-life upgrade.
Conclusion
The Sukhoi-Rafale mix is impenetrable and unmatchable in any kind of role as indicated many times by ACM RKS Bhaduria by statements like “Once the Su- 30MKI and the Rafale start operating together, it will be a potent combination against our adversaries, be it Pakistan or anybody else. Any adversary would be worried about such a combination” and designated the combination as a “Game-Changer”.
The Sukhoi-Rafale duo will be soon complimented with futuristic indigenous aircraft like AMCA and Tejas MK-2, which would ease excessive burden from these work-horses of IAF.