US Air Force and Indian Air Force wrap up their major air-combat exercise this week, having been going at it more or less non-stop since Nov. 7. Cope India has featured USAF F-16s against a variety of IAF hardware, including the latest Su-30MKI. Don’t expect, however, to hear a great deal about which side “won” or “lost” any particular air encounter. If recent press statements are a guide (see, for example, the Cope India story in the Nov. 17 issue of Pacific Stars & Stripes), USAF officers intend to downplay this angle. Claims of Indian victories in the last Cope India ruffled some feathers in the US Air Force.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…