“MANOEUVRE ON!” ‘Pointer’ banks his jet to the left. Through the thin, ribbony cirrus clouds, at his one o’clock position, he sees a delta-shaped speck off in the distance. It darts out of the clouds and is in a half-roll, the sun glinting off its clear Perspex canopy. It skitters from left to right. This guy is hauling ass.
Already committed to the bank, Pointer shoves the centrally-mounted control stick all the way to the left, against the stops, rolls his jet 270 degrees to reverse his turn and then buries the stick into his gut.
The cockpit shakes and judders under the extreme air loads. The nose of his 25-tonne Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker, callsign “Jengking Two”, is now tracking his adversary, a Eurofighter Typhoon of the Royal Air Force.
The Typhoon “driver” spots Pointer at the same instant. It wiggles momentarily as the pilot looks over his right shoulder, trying to keep a bead on the Flanker. Plugging the ‘burners on his twin EJ200s, the RAF pilot pulls hard on the pole and starts climbing, reefing in to get behind Pointer’s jet. The Typhoon’s acceleration is eye-wateringly quick.
“Damn… that is a slick jet,” Pointer thinks to himself.
Both jets start off at “angels 18” – 18,000 feet above sea level, somewhere over Grik, Perak. At the “merge”, the Flanker and the Typhoon, callsign 'Spartan One-One', are doing roughly 400 knots. Seeing the Typhoon climb, Pointer – Major Mohd Jamil Awang, 32, from Paka, Terengganu – works the twin throttles like a seasoned piccolo player. One eye is cocked on his adversary; the other is on the airspeed indicator on the left side of his large, collimated Heads-Up-Display (HUD).
He needs to find that “sweet” spot in his corner speed. Too slow and he won’t have enough “energy” to bring his nose to bear on the Typhoon; too fast and his turn will be wide; he will not be able to turn “inside” his prey. In the back seat, ‘Fab’ – Lt Col Faizal Abu Bakar, CO of 11 Squadron, Royal Malaysian Air Force – is giving Pointer a running commentary of this unfolding one-circle fight.
A seasoned Flanker “driver” himself, with more than 1,500 hours on the type, Fab is regarded as an “old timer” in the squadron with a wealth of experience and a bag of ACM tricks under his sleeve. On this particular “hop”, the 42-year-old from Johor Baru has designated himself the ‘Whizzo’ or Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) and paired himself with Pointer, who has logged 750 hours on the Flanker. The RMAF, as with other air arms, make it a practice to pair up “nugget” pilots with high-hour ‘Whizzos’ to enhance the learning experience and improve safety.
“Relax, relax, relax…” Fab’s tone is calm, reassuring.
AERIAL PROWESS
The “pitch ladder” on Pointer’s green HUD scrolls up at a crazy rate as he yanks his jet past 50 degrees AoA. The Flanker is closing in on the Typhoon’s “six”, perched a few thousand feet higher, and descending. He’s probably bled off too much energy in the initial climb and is trying to regain some airspeed to convert into manoeuvring energy. Pointer and Fab are enjoying a slight advantage over the Typhoon.
“Okay… MANOEUVRE NOW! Go for guns! Don’t let him get away!” Fab yells into the “hot mike” inside his Ulmer SU30 UECT 82VB oxygen mask.
The “pipper” – a circle with slashes of nautical lines around it – is floating freely at the centre of Pointer’s HUD lens. A line emanates from the pipper and terminates at the border of the HUD glass. At the end of that line is a box, called the Target Designator Box. At the moment, the TDB is not visible inside the HUD, but Pointer knows it is “locked” on the Typhoon.
A laser rangefinder incorporated into the OLS-36-Sh-01 infrared search and track (IRST) system provides ranging information on the target as Pointer closes in. He is waiting for the ‘SHOOT’ cue to flash on his HUD, the second the Typhoon is in guns range.
Pointer is cranking it up and really whipping the ponies. He is flying fangs out, balls to the wall as he tries to get a “gun snap” on his adversary. The thrust-vectoring nozzles on the Flanker’s Lyulka AL-31FP Saturn engines give it unparalleled manoeuvrability and nose-pointing ability. All Pointer has to do is feed right rudder and yaw his jet, and the Flanker will track the Typhoon as it tries desperately to shake him off and get the hell out of Dodge.
Unfortunately, Pointer also hauls back on the stick… just momentarily. His airspeed windmills down to 150 knots. The aural cockpit warning system, called ‘Bitchin’ Betty’, is giving him an earful inside his Gallet LA100 helmet.
“Minimum speed… minimum speed…”
“Jangan tarikkk!” Fab yells.
Pointer bunts the stick forward and immediately eases off on the pole. He kicks in right rudder, pushes the twin throttles forward and continues with his gun track. Pointer jams on the rudder pedals and is now in lead pursuit, with the Typhoon slightly under his jet. He waits… and in an instant, the Typhoon looms into sight and fills up his HUD screen.
At last, the TDB and pipper are exactly where Pointer wants them; overlaid on one another, just behind the Typhoon’s clear bubble canopy. The second the two straddle the Typhoon’s spine, Pointer breathes the words every fighter pilot lives to hear.
“Trigger down... SNAP!”
FIVE POWER DEFENCE ARRANGEMENTS
In a real fight, the single-barrelled, 30mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-301 cannon, embedded in the Sukhoi’s right leading-edge root extension would be spewing white-hot, high-explosive, incendiary rounds at a rate of 1,800 rounds per minute. The gun is so lethal and the weapon, so accurate, that the Flanker only carries 150 rounds of ammo. That’s all you need.
Fortunately, this sortie was just one of the many scenarios flown under this year’s edition of the Five Power Defence Arrangements exercise, conducted between October 7 and 16.
The FPDA are a series of defence relationships established by a series of multilateral agreements between the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. Signed in 1971, the five nations are to consult each other “immediately” in the event or threat of an armed attack on any of these five countries.
The primary objective of the exercise is to enhance interoperability between forces of the participating nations and to foster a closer working relationship. For this year’s edition, the RAF dispatched six Typhoon FGR4s from No 2 (AC) Squadron based in Lossiemouth, Scotland, to RMAF Butterworth, 10,291km away.
The RMAF’s premier strike fighter unit, No 18 Squadron – “The Mighty Hornets” – led by its skipper Lt Col Goh Keng Loon, callsign ‘Pacman’, also showcased its prowess in the dissimilar air combat manoeuvring and close air support phases of the exercise.
Two RMAF BAE Systems Hawk 108s from No 6 Squadron homeported in Butterworth were also dispatched to Changi Airbase in Singapore. The Republic of Singapore Air Force in turn, sent two of its two-seat, Block 52 Lockheed Martin F-16D Vipers to RMAF Kuantan. This year’s air component covered defensive counter air, offensive counter air, ground controlled air intercepts, maritime strike and close air support.
Pointer has little time to revel in his guns “kill”. The aural cockpit warning system is already broadcasting “Bingo fuel” over and over again in his headset. That’s the minimum amount of fuel he has left to get Jengking Two safely back to its base in Gong Kedak, Kelantan. The finer points of the 1v1 fight will have to be dissected during the debrief.
“Roger, Jengking Two… terminate bingo”.
“Spartan, terminate… Base, Spartan One-One is also now bingo fuel. RTB (returning to base). Levelling at 15,000 feet, heading westbound. Will speak to you on the ground. Many thanks, I enjoyed that fight”.