The IAF-RAF dogfight: Did India really 'humiliate' Britain in the joint exercise?

Last week, it was reported widely in the media that Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots flying Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters had won with a margin of 12-0 against British's Royal Air Force (RAF's) Typhoon jets, in a series of dog-fighting excercises.

Operation 'Indradhanush,' a 10-day exercise which commenced on July 21 saw the IAF with four Russian-designed fighter aircrafts, face off against the RAF's Typhoon FGR4 fighter.

NDTV bagged an exclusive interview with Group Captain Ashu Srivastav, the Contingent Commander in the exercises, who told them that the performance of his pilots was "exceptional."

The report goes on to add that the pilots showed "flexibility and adaptability to a new environment and operating conditions and on this benchmark, I would rate them exceptional."

However, according to a report in The Independent, the British pilots were in dismay as their Indian counterparts had taken the unusual step of publicly claiming to have come away with a resounding victory.

“There must have been some clouded recollection on the flights back to India, as the headlines of the Indian press bear no relation to the results of the tactical scenarios completed on the exercise in any shape or form,” the report goes on to quote a source as saying.

The Indian Express was also quick to pick this story up, and added that if the exercise indeed showed that the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is superior to the Typhoon, which in turn ranks above the Rafale fighter, why is India buying 36 Rafale fighters?

However, another report added that this isn’t the first time the Indian Air Force publicly claimed a debated victory. Indian Su-30's claimed to have achieved a 9:1 kill ratio against U.S. Air Force F-15C jets during Cope India  in 2004.

However, the kill ratio was proved right at the time but it was also explained that the F-15s were defeated because they were called to fight the Su-30s in scenarios that involved six Eagles against up to eighteen IAF aircraft with extra handicaps.

In the recent incident too, the RAF source claimed that the Typhoons had effectively been fighting “with one arm behind their backs” as they did not make full use of their more advanced weapons systems.

However, as Captain Srivastav also pointed out to NDTV, It is still hard to quantify the results as most of these exercises do not use the full extent of their weapons system and the purpose of the flight is to learn each other's tactics and strategy.