American, French and South Korean aircrews are getting a close look at one of the world’s fabled aircraft – the Indian air force’s Su-30MKI strike fighter.

An Indian air force group of 50 pilots and weapon systems officers – flying eight Su-30MKIs, two Il-78 tankers and an Il-76 transport – are just finishing a month-long deployment to the U.S. with a training cycle at Red Flag.

They were part of a contingent of 246 IAF personnel selected from 20 (fighter) Sqdn., Poona; 78 (tanker) Sqd., Agra; 44 (transport) Sqd. Nagpur,  and a special operations team trained for combat search and rescue, says Group Captain Dee Choudhry.

Of great interest to observers, and no doubt to U.S. intelligence, was the Su-30MKI’s Russian-made, long-range radar and AA-12 Adder air-to-air missile capability. Mused a British military analyst, “I’ll bet your [intelligence] boys hovered up every little squiggly amp." In fact, foreign air force officials admit that they anticipate that there’s intelligence gathering going on at an event like Red Flag.

But India’s Su-30MKI aircraft offers an especially attractive target. It carries the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design NIIP-BARS radar that so far has only been seen on the MKI. But it’s considered a variant of what NIIP developed for Russia’s new Su-35 multi-role aircraft and what it’s working on for the next-generation PAK-FA fifth-generation stealth fighter.

To observers’ dismay, and no doubt to that of the U.S. intelligence community, the IAF flew with a number of handicaps, some of them self-imposed, some not.

Their powerful Russian-made radar was in fact emitting, says Choudhry, but it was operating only in the training mode which limited the sensor’s range and spectrum of capabilities. In addition, the IAF wasn’t allowed to use chaff and flares to avoid being targeted by surface-to-air missiles nor did its aircraft have the common data link. The U.S. operated CDL brings a flow of targeting information into the cockpit displays that improves the accuracy and speed of data transfer and eliminates the need for most communications. The Indian air crews had to rely on voice communications which slowed the process and limited situational awareness.

Despite its limitations, the Su-30MKI’s radar was still able to allow the IAF’s Sukhoi’s to participate in a beyond visual range fight with U.S. aggressor aircraft carrying simulated AA-10C air-to-air missiles as their weapons. Because there were so many foreign aircraft capable of offensive counter air/escort missions (including French Rafales and South Korean F-15K Slam Eagles), the Sukhois are flying fewer air-to-air missions than Indian team members had hoped, Choudhry says.

“It was almost what we expected,” Choudhry says. “Because we couldn’t use our chaff and flares, when we were targeted by SAMs we were shot down. And there was no picture in the cockpit to help our situational awareness so the work load on the [aircrews] was very high.” Nonetheless, “We came a long way. We trained hard. And the degree of difficulty was not unexpected.”