East China Sea Air Defense ID Zone

A.Man said:

It says, SU-30's are from PLANAF of China East Sea Fleet.

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Due a natural better advantages of the SU-30s against the F-15s, logical to send them. Currently there are no better fighter aircrafts in the JAF or South Korea airforce for that matter that can handle the SU-30s if things got a little heated and would best to avoid engagement for now for Japan.

This is also the reason recent US deployment of a dozen F-22s to Kadena base to meet challenges and beef up some forces there as deterences (that's the cue for J-20).

port_08 said:

Due a natural better advantages of the SU-30s against the F-15s, logical to send them. Currently there are no better fighter aircrafts in the JAF or South Korea airforce for that matter that can handle the SU-30s if things got a little heated and would best to avoid engagement for now for Japan.

This is also the reason recent US deployment of a dozen F-22s to Kadena base to meet challenges and beef up some forces there as deterences (that's the cue for J-20).

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Actually in a an Eagle versus Flanker Match-up, whoever has the "right stuff" will likely win, while I'm rather sure the Flanker has an edge in agility, that doesn't necessarily give the Flanker driver the "victory", he will have to fight for that! Those F-22s are there for another reason, I'm rather certain that the USAF Eagle drivers could handle the Su-30s, or J-10s or J-11s for that matter????

Air Force Brat said:

Actually in a an Eagle versus Flanker Match-up, whoever has the "right stuff" will likely win, while I'm rather sure the Flanker has an edge in agility, that doesn't necessarily give the Flanker driver the "victory", he will have to fight for that! Those F-22s are there for another reason, I'm rather certain that the USAF Eagle drivers could handle the Su-30s, or J-10s or J-11s for that matter????

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The USAF f-15 is not the same as the JAF F-15. I don't think the Japanese has the latest F-15 blocks. The premise of Port_08's statement is that no JAF or SK F-15 can match Su-30. He didn't say no F-15 anywhere can match Su-30.

Air Force Brat said:

Actually in a an Eagle versus Flanker Match-up, whoever has the "right stuff" will likely win, while I'm rather sure the Flanker has an edge in agility, that doesn't necessarily give the Flanker driver the "victory", he will have to fight for that! Those F-22s are there for another reason, I'm rather certain that the USAF Eagle drivers could handle the Su-30s, or J-10s or J-11s for that matter????

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Eagles have the advantage in acceleration and climb, hands down. However as vesicles stated in the previous post, F-15Js operated by JMSDF consist of early block F-15s purchased in the late 80s and 90s. A very high number of these aircraft do not have the capability to support AMRAAMs or the Japanese equivalent since only a small number of them received the necessary upgrades (F-15J kai). This, coupled with the fact that the aircraft are near the end of their lifespan, may prove disadvantageous in an air-to-air confrontation with newer airframes.

siegecrossbow said:

No. The report on CCTV said that they got within visual range and evicted the intruding aircraft.

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The report said that there was a climbing and turning match before the intruding aircraft disengaged when they weren't able to shake off the flankers.

Nice way to start off a new year.

Well let's all hope those scenarios remain the in wetdreams of hawkish types and never come to fruition. It doesn't really matter which pilot ends up having to eject or killed. Japan and China going into blows would be lose lose for everyone. No major world power has gotten into any direct military shootout since WWII.
Any shooting war involving those two countries will likely escalate into a global scale. This would not be like Tomcats shooting down a couple of Libyan MiGs or even Serbia downing the F-117.
This will be ultimate nightmare test of America's foreign policy. What will Obama do if Japan and China comes to blows?

PLA spokesperson Luo Yuan confirmed that the aircraft intercepted was of Japanese origin.

vesicles said:

The USAF f-15 is not the same as the JAF F-15. I don't think the Japanese has the latest F-15 blocks. The premise of Port_08's statement is that no JAF or SK F-15 can match Su-30. He didn't say no F-15 anywhere can match Su-30.

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Oh, I'm sure the SK F-15 can easily go toe-to-toe with the Su-30MKK/2. But that wouldn't be an issue for China since the only vehicle that might be involved in such flights would be JASDF F-15s, and if the JASDF wants new upgrades then the PLANAF could simply bring in their highly capable J-11BH variants.

vesicles said:

The USAF f-15 is not the same as the JAF F-15. I don't think the Japanese has the latest F-15 blocks. The premise of Port_08's statement is that no JAF or SK F-15 can match Su-30. He didn't say no F-15 anywhere can match Su-30.

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Yep, you're correct.

The baseline JASDF F-15J is basically a USAF model F-15A. The F-15As do not have ARH BVR capability -- they rely on the AIM-7 SARH missile, which are far less capable than ARH missiles like AIM-120 or PL-12.

The "upgraded" JASDF F-15J is known as the F-15J "kai" (kai meaning change -- basically "gai" in mandarin lol).
The F-15J Kai are capable of firing ARH BVR missiles in the form of the AAM-4 (which is basically a japanese AMRAAM).
Basically, the F-15J Kai are equivalent in air to air capability to the USAF's F-15Cs (and in turn equivalent to the PLAAF's Su-30MKK/MK2s, and J-11Bs, as well as some older upgarded Su-27SKs)

However, only a small fraction of JASDF's 213 F-15Js seem to be upgraded to the "kai" standard (although I'm not super sure about the specific number that have been upgarded).


The JASDF's F-15Js are definitely behind compared to USAF F-15s. For one, I don't think the USAF have any F-15As in service anymore. Also, I think the USAF have started to equip their F-15Cs with AESA retrofits.
Compare this to the JASDF's F-15Js where the majority are still not ARH/BVR capable.


To get a handle on the JASDF's average F-15J age, check out this picture of an F-15J cockpit

Bltizo said:

Yep, you're correct.

The JASDF's F-15Js are definitely behind compared to USAF F-15s. For one, I don't think the USAF have any F-15As in service anymore. Also, I think the USAF have started to equip their F-15Cs with AESA retrofits.
Compare this to the JASDF's F-15Js where the majority are still not ARH/BVR capable.

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Correction. All F-15Js are BVR capable. The problem is that the majority only support older generation missiles like the AIM-7 Sparrow that requires continuous target illumination throughout the duration of the launch.