역사 1990년 - Tornado F3과 Mirage F1의 모의 교전

[백선호]

1990년 8월 이라크가 쿠웨이트를 침공해서 영국이 사우디 아라비아를 지키기 위해 군대를 보냈을 때 영국공군의 Tornado F3도 보내기로 결정되어 영국공군은 이라크공군이 갖고 있는 Mirage F1에 대한 정보를 얻기 위해 Tornado F3 2대를 프랑스로 보내 Mirage F1과 모의 교전을 하도록 했습니다.

Tornado F3의 Foxhunter 레이다는 그 때까지 문제가 많았지만 모의 교전을 해 보니 Mirage F1을 상대로 할 때는 항상 먼저 보고 Skyflash 미사일을 쏠 수 있게 해서 Mirage F1은 항상 수세에 몰렸고, Mirage F1의 재밍도 Foxhunter에게는 먹히지 않았다고 하네요.

Occasionally, unusual opportunities came our way, from which we learned valuable lessons. Our French allies at Mont de Marsan airbase in south west France, had in their possession a Mirage F1 that was in an operationally representative fit. An offer was made for us to fly against it and look at its capabilities. It even had an electronic countermeasures pod similar to one which might be encountered in theatre attached. We were tasked by the Central Tactics and Trials Organisation to send two aircraft to operate against it and to report on its capabilities. Fortuitously, we had the services of an RAF Tornado F3 pilot who was fluent in French, having completed an exchange tour. This was a valuable exercise as there were quite a number of Mirage F1s in service in Iraq and our crews could well have faced it in combat during the 1991 war. We had always had a great relationship with our test colleagues at Mont de Marsan as they did a very similar job to ours, albeit for all types of Mirage. A very experienced Colonel was flying the F1 for the eval‎uation and we set up intercept profiles and air combat splits against the unusual opponent. It is fair to say that our radar, for all its problems, outclassed that of the Mirage. On almost every intercept we had tracked, locked and launched a simulated Skyflash missile well before he was able to launch against us, thus he was defensive almost all the time. The head-on radar shot quickly turns a one versus one fight into a one versus two, and it is a brave man indeed who can ignore an incoming air-to-air missile in the hope that it might miss. We were chuckling at his 'Merde’ over the radio as we called the simulated shots. Once into visual combat the Mirage F1 is a small, difficult to see and agile opponent. The Tornado F3 has no real advantage except, and it is a big except, we had two sets of eyes to his one. The electronic countermeasures pod, known as Remora, did not offer too much of a threat to the Foxhunter and we were able to write a confident report on how to take on this threat, should it materialise in Iraq. We were open with our French colleagues who were single-seat pilots. They seemed impressed with our radar and tactical displays, and were very impressed with our radar homing and warning receiver that gave more information on threat identity than their own.

The eval‎uation allowed me to join the 'espionage fraternity' for a brief time. Thoughts of covert collection in such an open and helpful environment were quickly shelved when we found we needed photographs of both the Mirage and the external stores for aircrew briefings. Asking the French pilot if we could capture the Mirage on film in close formation produced immediate agreement. The Mirage closed in; while I fired off a roll of film from a few feet below, it proved to be extremely photogenic. As an opponent, the Mirage F1 was in one league but later, I was to find out that the Mirage 2000 is in an entirely different league.

https://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/3930

1992년 토네이도 F3 vs. 미라지 2000C

https://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/2337

소프트웨어 바꿔 전투력 향상 - 토네이도 F3 Stage 3