Aggressor squadron
Aggressor squadrons use enemy tactics, techniques, and procedures to give a realistic simulation of air combat (as opposed to training against one's own forces).
The first formal use of dissimilar aircraft for training was in 1969 by the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (better known as "Topgun"), which used the A-4 Skyhawk to simulate the performance of the MiG-17.
The United States Air Force followed suit with their first aggressor squadrons at Nellis AFB equipped with the readily available T-38 Talon.
At the end of 2005, the USAF started using the larger and faster F-15 Eagle as an aggressor aircraft alongside the F-16 at Nellis Air Force Base.
German MiG-29 aircraft were regular visitors to the United States before being sold to Poland and participated in valuable DACT training at Nellis AFB as well as NAS Key West in addition to providing details to overseas locations or hosting US squadrons in Germany.
At this point, the U.S. Navy held a competition for an adversary platform that could viably represent fourth-generation fighter threats embodied by the MiG-29, Su-27 and the Mirage 2000.
It was not equipped with the M61 Vulcan gun system and had twin lens pods on both sides of the intake to enlarge the relatively small radar cross section of the F-16.
Despite the airframe being strengthened to cope with the continuous high-G loads associated with air combat maneuvering, cracks were detected on the wings after only a few years of operation, leading to grounding of the Navy F-16 fleet by 1992 and complete retirement of the F-16N by 1994.
[4] In 2002, the Navy began to receive fourteen F-16A and F-16B models from AMARC at Davis-Monthan AFB that were brand new aircraft originally intended for Pakistan, but had been embargoed.
The PACAF counterpart, the 26th Training Aggressor Squadron, operated F-5s out of the former Clark Air Base near Angeles City, Philippines.
Since 2005, the Canadian Forces has employed civilian contractor Top Aces to provide aggressor services utilising modernised Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets, Lear 35s, and Douglas A-4 Skyhawks.
The squadron re-formed in 2009, again in the EW adversary role, based in Ottawa, Ontario, flying aboard contracted Top Aces aircraft.
The squadron has previously supported Canadian Army air defense units, but with the retirement of the ADATS platform this role was discontinued.
Fleet support squadrons VU-32 and VU-33 sometimes filled an adversary role, using their CT-133s to simulate sea-skimming missiles, such as the Exocet, for the Canadian Forces Maritime Command's vessels.
The 46th Imaginary Enemy Squadron of the Republic of China Air Force was established in 1972 under the guidance of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan.
[10][11] The Soviet Air Forces began a program known as the 1521st Center for Combat Employment, located in Mary, Turkmen SSR, in 1970.
Italian Air Force Alenia Aermacchi T-346As belonging to the 61° Stormo deployed to Tactical Leadership Programme in the Aggressors role.
Their A-4K Kahu Skyhawks primarily served as targets for Royal Australian Navy air defences, but also were used in DACT with RAAF F/A-18 Hornets.
Some aggressor missions do not require dogfighting, but instead involve flying relatively simple profiles to test the target acquisition and tracking capabilities of radars, missiles and aircraft.
They also get the benefit of continuing to draw on the expertise of the contracted pilots, most of whom are highly experienced weapons school graduates, being either retired or still serving officers concurrently flying in the Reserve, Air National Guard or equivalent.
