APA NOTAM

[1] Omega Services PMC is a Russian contractor specialising in the provision of experienced military personnel and consultancy, occupying a similar market niche to Blackwater and other US contractors. With access to a very large pool of highly experienced former Soviet and Russian military professionals, Omega provide highly capable consultancy services. URI: http://omega.warfare.ru/content/view/13/40/lang,en/

[2] Col Medved is describing a technique used very effectively by Australia against the Japanese during WW2, and more recently against the Argentinians by the British in 1982. Ground observers use covert channels to report on aircraft departures and geography permitting, outbound headings.

[3] The Irbis E is a block upgrade to the N-011M BARS on the Su-30MKI/MKM, or a retrofit option for the Su-27SKM/Su-30MKK/MK2. It is the baseline radar configuration for the Su-35BM.

[4] This is a standard evasive tactic when under attack by a radar guided missile. The aim is to cause a rapid change in Doppler which may cause a seeker lock to break, while also maximising the angle rate and G-load the inbound missile must sustain to track the target. NB Russian and previously Soviet policy was and remains to retrofit alternate seekers to long range / BVR missiles. The seekers used in the R-73 family of short range air combat missiles have been retrofitted to the R-27 / AA-10 Alamo and R-77 / AA-12 Adder BVR missiles. The 'Optical seeker' referred to here is the third generation imaging seeker in development for the R-74 series, similar to the ASRAAM, Python 5 and AIM-9X seeker. The play is to force the target fighter to turn and expose its hot end to the inbound heatseeking missile. If the fighter has to use afterburner to sustain the turn, then its heat signature is further increased aiding the second inbound missile in detection and tracking.

[5] A tail warning radar is an option for a number of Flanker variants, mounted in the centrebody tail bullet. Phazotron and Tikhomirov NIIP have offered several phased arrays for this application, including derivatives of inlet nose bullet radars designed for block upgrades of the MiG-21 / J-7 Fishbed fighters. While these radars lack the range of the nose mounted BARS and Irbis-E, they are significantly more powerful and longer ranging than active radar Missile Approach Warning Systems (MAWS) available for Western fighters, and double up as midcourse datalink transmitters for missile guidance. This allows the Flanker to take a BVR missile shot, perform a maxium G U-turn, and continue to provide midcourse guidance updates to the missile as it retreats from the missile engagement envelope of the target fighter. Target coordinates, where the tail warning radar lacks the required performance to maintain a track, would be relayed via TKS-2 datalink from another Flanker to cue the radar boresight. Readers should note that missile kinematic No Escape Zones (NEZ) are strongly asymmetric in relation to the direction the target is flying in - in a closing geometry with the missile and target heading toward each other, the NEZ footprint is large since the relative velocity is the sum of the missile and target velocities. Conversely, the kinematic NEZ footprint shrinks dramatically in a tailchase geometry, as the relative velocity is the difference in the velocities of the missile and target. In a scenario where the fighters initiate the engagement head to head at maximum missile kinematic range, if one of the fighters can turn away immediately after its opponent launches, the changed engagement geometry shrinks the missile NEZ. If the retreating fighter has a tail mounted radar, it can continue to guide its missile against the advancing fighter, but the latter can no longer hit the retreating fighter and must deal with an inbound missile.

[6] The Vympel R-73R variant has a booster pack attached and is designed to be carried tail first on a launch rail, and fired backward.