Author: Rainbow Kursk
Recently, the US Theater Network reported that the US Navy's VFC-12 "Battle Omar" carrier-based fighter squadron released a photo, which showed that one of the unit's F/A-18 "Hornet" fighters was painted with our army's red star, Bayi, and flying wing logos on the vertical tail, which was obviously used to simulate our army's J-15 and other carrier-based fighters.
Previously, the squadron had been tasked with the imaginary enemy of the Navy's carrier-based aircraft unit, that is, as a fighter for the imaginary enemy, to teach pilots how to confront real enemy aircraft. In the past, it was generally the "Hornet" fighter that played Russia's Su-27, Su-33, Su-35 and other fighters, and it was the first time that it played the role of Chinese air power fighters.
The Theater Network reported last year that the VFC-12 squadron plans to adopt a new paint coating scheme on its fighter jets to simulate the air power of the eastern power.
Image: Note that the vertical tail of the fighter behind this photo is a logo of the Chinese Air Force.
Both the U.S. Air Force and the Naval Aviation Corps have a tradition of forming their own imaginary enemy forces.
This approach originally came from the Vietnam War. At that time, the U.S. Air Force and Navy used F-4 "Ghost" fighters, but due to the prevalence of "missile theory", "Ghost" fighters equipped with semi-active radar-guided medium-range air-to-air missiles considered themselves invincible to the world, so they did not install cannons.
As a result, the F-4 fighter, which had no guns, along with pilots who had also not received air combat training, was hit hard by the maneuverable MiG fighters. The U.S. Air Force and Navy were distraught, so they began to restore the fighter's guns and began to form imaginary enemy units to help their pilots master combat skills in close-range air confrontations.
Image: The pilot's armband is Chinese and a red star logo.
In order to be able to more realistically simulate the hostile Soviet Air Force and Naval Aviation at that time, the United States obtained MiG fighters from all over the world in a series of ways, including MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23 and so on.
In the 1980s, during the honeymoon period between China and the United States, about 15 J-7II fighters made by Chengfei were also purchased through normal commercial methods to simulate MiG-21 fighters.
Image: The United States gets its hands on a MiG-21F-13 fighter jet.
Pictured: The front-flip canopy is a MiG-21F-13 fighter jet, while the other cockpits are all American-purchased J-7II fighters.
For example, in the early years, the F-5 fighter jet was used to simulate the MiG-21 fighter. In recent years, the U.S. Air Force and Navy have also used F-16 fighter jets and F/A-18 fighter jets to simulate Russian fighters.
Image: The F/A-18 fighter jet is painted with Russian Su-35, Su-57 fighter jets, and the iconic Red Star.
Because the U.S. Naval Aviation Corps has been deployed overseas with aircraft carriers, it is also more interested in fighters such as J-10, 11, 15, 16 and so on than the Air Force, and last year launched a set of painting schemes that simulate the above aircraft with F/A-18 fighter jets!
It is still a kind of Cold War mentality in which the United States makes enemies everywhere, and if it does not establish a few imaginary enemies for itself, it will not develop if it is suitable!
Image: J-10 livery.
Image: J-11/16 livery.
Image: J-15 livery.