Posted: 11/13/2006 5:01:52 PM EDT
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Air Force declassifies elite aggressor program www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123031752 11/13/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- After decades of secrecy, Air Force officials acknowledged Nov. 13 that Communist-built fighters were flown at the Tonopah Test Range northwest of Las Vegas, Nev. From 1977 through 1988, the program, known as Constant Peg, saw Air Force, Navy and Marine aircrews flying against Soviet-designed MiG fighters as part of a training program where American pilots could better learn how to defeat or evade the Communist bloc's fighters of the day. Brig. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the 3rd Wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is a former member of the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron and remembers the valuable training the unit provided. "CONSTANT PEG afforded pilots an opportunity to learn how to fight enemy aircraft in a controlled, safe environment without having to endure the risks of actual air combat," said General Carlisle. "Typically a pilot would start with a basic familiarization flight to observe the enemy airplane and study its characteristics, practicing one-on-one defensive and offensive maneuvers against it, and finally, experience multi-bogey engagements high over the desert scrubland of the Nellis Air Force Base ranges." As a result of marginal performance of American fighter forces in the skies over North Vietnam, Constant Peg complemented other revolutionary training programs such as Red Flag and Top Gun, and the Air Force and Navy-Marine aggressor squadrons. The program also was intended to eliminate the "buck fever" or nervous excitement many pilots experience on their first few combat missions. Historical experience indicated that pilots who survived their first ten missions were much more likely to survive a complete combat tour, and Constant Peg was intended to teach them the right "moves" to enable them to come out on top of any engagement. The end of the Constant Peg nearly coincided with the end of the Cold War, by which time some of its graduates already had proven themselves in actual air combat. Threat aircraft flown by the Red Eagles spanned several decades and technical generations of capability. There was the MiG-17 Fresco, a small, agile single-seat transonic fighter placed in service just after the Korean War and used extensively over Vietnam and the Middle East; the MiG-21 Fishbed, a high supersonic fighter used world-wide in large numbers, and the swing-wing MiG-23 Flogger, likewise in global service, an attempt by the Soviets to match the sophisticated capabilities of the F-4 Phantom. "Although it came too late to influence Vietnam, Constant Peg training greatly influenced the success of American Airmen in Desert Storm, who shot down 40 Iraqi fighters, many of which were Fishbeds and Floggers," said General Carlisle. |
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I am sure that this concept continues to be used in some form. Between GWI and GWII, a lot of quite modern Soviet hardware has been captured, and, no doubt, some of it has ended up in US hangars. And I'm sure that in recent years, the AF has acquired the use of MiG-29s and SU-27s by various means, including "borrowing" them from the Germans or other former Soviet Bloc nations, or simply buying them when they came up on the open market after the fall of the Soviet Union. I'm sure that the military has had more than adequate access to everything in the Soviet arsenal that's been released for sale to its allies and friends. And it would be a mistake NOT to use this information to train our combat forces in how to counter the threats that those aircraft (and other hardware) can pose in a combat situation. CJ |
I wonder what happened to these Mig-29s we bought in '97? www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov1997/n11101997_9711102.html U.S. Buys Moldovan MiG-29 Fighters By Linda D. Kozaryn American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON -- The United States recently bought 21 nuclear- capable MiG-29 fighter jets from the Republic of Moldova to keep them out of the hands of potential enemies, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced Nov. 4. "We have credible information that a number of rogue states, including Iran, are attempting to buy available Russian high-tech equipment and weapons in the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union," Cohen said. "These aircraft were on their shopping list." Iran is developing weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities, Cohen said. "It's in our overall interest to see to it that this kind of aircraft doesn't fall into their hands, if we can prevent it." The Soviet-designed fighters were dismantled and moved from the Eastern European republic to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Air Force officials will study the aircraft's capabilities and ways to counter them, Cohen said. The jets were purchased under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program aimed at reducing, controlling and eliminating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction from the former Soviet Union. The program, also known as the Nunn-Lugar program, has helped draw down nuclear capabilities in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. U.S. officials also arranged to store weapons-grade uranium from Kazakhstan in the United States and helping enhance the security, control and accounting of nuclear weapons and fissile materials in Russia. |
MiG-15 was codenamed "Fagot" (thanks for the correction, dport). I guess you could only get away with that sort of thing in the 50's. Can you imagine the squak during combat, "Leader, Three Fagots at you six, over" ? I wonder why they used only one "g"? |
| My father told me about this YEARS ago. He said there were entire fleets of the Russian aircraft. You would be told to fly to a certain area for a dogfight, and you would look over and see a Mig-23. He would talk to you, and then you would fight. You would tank, then another different russian aircraft would come up, and you would fight again. he said it was neat as hell. |
The MiG-15 is STILL referred to by the NATO designation "Fagot." The MiG-17 is "Fresco" and the Mig-19 "Farmer." All of the words start with "F" to identify these as fighter aircraft, just like the "Hind" "Halo" and "Hoplite" are all helicopters and the "Bear" is a bomber, etc. I'm sure you're familiar with other ones as well, "Flanker" "Fulcrum" "Frogfoot" etc. These words will still in full use when I went through AIT in 2002 and 2003. Also, I have personally seen several Russian helicopters flying around Fort Bliss while I was there. They are still in their native paint scheme with the red star on the tail and all.
The MiGs in use on the set of TOP GUN were F-5s (American). Wow...for once my military training is for something useful around ARFCOM. |
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We also built some of the BG's radar systems and tested them out against our guys. Modern warfare is much more that just hardware. Some former colleagues of mine at Georgia Tech Research Institute designed a computer based control system for this system at Eglin AFB.  This one was at Nellis: 
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No that was "Top Gun". Different program. They used our old SkyHawks as aggressors. At least that's what they told us. This sounds like an entirely different program. ETA: Makes you wonder what kind of American hardware is flying over Russian skies. Of course they can barely afford the fuel and upkeep of their own planes. 
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CJ and 2a373... What I'm about to post I've pieced together from many unclass sources... conversation with classmates who fly F-18's, visting various airbases, open source documents on the internet, conversations with friends who are/were agressor pilots etc... Most of the weapons bought after the fall of the cold war were broken down and 'studied' some were rebuilt and flown and wrung out. But due to what we learned no aggressor squadron actively flys them against US pilots. This is due to the expense of doing (Soviet block fighters are maintence intensive, and have a short time between overhauls compared to ours... factor in our labor costs vs. that of the typical soviet model conscript, non domestic spare parts, and you get the picture). What we learned told us mig 29's and to a lesser extent Flankers can be emulated using properly trained aggressor pilots in F-18's painted too look like Flankers. So now we have agressor squadrons flying the F-18C (I may be mistaken, but I think these guys got the newest block engines and flight control software and can beat an E/F in a fair fight due to the E/F's canted wing stores). |
Anybody know if the Russians or Chinese ever flew F-4's, F-14's, -15's or -16's? |
The USAF also formed a F-15 aggressor squadron at Nellis recently. |
The USAF, Navy, Marines and probably the Brits flew the shit out of them during the late 90's. There was one at NAS Fallon, I am pretty sure there's one at Nellis. The USAF has/had two at Goodfellow AFB, one was an Iraqi MiG and the other was a Moldy MiG. Some guy was able to horsetrade with the USAF and ended up with a MiG-29. |
| I read about this program in a book called Wings of Fury by Robert K. Wilcox. If I remember correctly it was discussed in the "this may or may not have happened" or "I may or may not have flown MiG-21s in simulated combat over Nevada" manner. It was a really interesting book. I need to read it again. |