Mirage 2000 - 5 vs F-16 (Block 30)

[jaguara5]

Τoday i enjoyed a spectacular dogfight simulation in the Athens flying week airshow between the 2 aircrafts.

Off course the aircrafts were flying for airshow purposes and were not demonstrating a real engagement in operational limits. Anyway, it was very interesting to see the 3 dimensional maneuvers live and not only in tacview

Also the (M2000) pilot who described the event for the public gave some interesting informations.

He said that both types, in their latest variants, are excellent platforms and have their strong and week points in various altitude and speed regimes. He added, off course, that in his objective opinion the ''2litre'' (that's how we call the M2000) will always win

He added, that a 1 circle dogfight is a guns only engagement due to the very small separation between the aircrafts after the head on pass, in contrary in a 2 circle dogfight missile selection is an option for the pilot.

He said, also, that in modern dogfights, due to the extreme maneuverability of the 3 / 4 gen. aircrafts, lead pursuit's are the standard used turns. This was the most obvious observation i have made from the event , as the M2000 (attacking aircraft) performed the whole time excessive lead turns without overshooting (+ 2 high yo - yo's if i remember). Comparing the maneuvers to the previous performed polish F-16 show, it was obvious that the aircrafts were pulling a lot of g's, although the pilot added that in a typical engagement in higher altitude the maneuvers would be more aggressive, because the ground wouldn't be a immediate threat.

On a side note, i have talked to Polish Mig -29 pilot (Q : who wins in a dogfight against an F-16 , A : the Mig), german tornado and USAF F-16 block 40 pilots.

[mvsgas]

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by mvsgas

[uri_ba]

CL tank m2k vs 2 bags F-16.. yeah, that's a demo alright :)

[jojo]

CL tank m2k vs 2 bags F-16.. yeah, that's a demo alright :)

 

Yeah it's a demo, but it's quite typical of RL configuration for both aircraft.

 

Also the bags are probably empty.

[jaguara5]

We were informed that the F-16 was coming from his home base (Anchialos)

so it probably needed more fuel.

[jojo]

I can't be sure for this specific F-16, but I talked with the crew of Ramex Delta which performed a display with a pair of Mirage 2000N fitted with wing tanks.

When they performed at range from their airfield they used partial filling for the external wing tanks.

They took only what was needed for the transit flight, so when the show start the external tanks are empty.

 

I also read an incident report from another display. They used partially filled fuselage tank.

 

But all that is French Mirage 2000 use...

[jojo]

We were informed that the F-16 was coming from his home base (Anchialos)

so it probably needed more fuel.

 

If I'm right it's about 90Nm in straight line. Let's say less than 15mn flight.