The amateur photographer took photos of the event on Nov. 8, 2016. He insists that the F-16's opponent was a Russian-built single-seat fighter jet. The British newspaper believes it is one of the several Su-27s purchased in the former Soviet Union.
Dogfight
The close aerial combat, or dogfight as the tactic is known, took place at an altitude of 6,000 meters.
"It is universally believed that now, with precision missile weapons in place, there is no longer any need to engage in dogfights, because the adversary can be safely engaged from a distance," Dmitry Safonov, a military analyst with Russian daily newspaper Izvestia, told RBTH. "However, close aerial combat allows pilots to hone their skills, as well as testing the capabilities of their own aircraft and those of the simulated opponent."
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Safonov said the U.S. had indeed purchased some Russian military equipment from former Soviet regions. In 1997, Washington procured 21 MiG-29 fighters from Moldova, to prevent them falling into the hands of the Iranians. Several Su-27s were bought from Belarus and Ukraine between the mid 1990s-2000s for aggressor roles as part of USAF pilot training.
"All these aircraft were purchased unofficially to be subsequently studied by American experts," Safonov explained. "The reason was the growing number of Su-27s in operation around the world. A country's armed forces need to know a potential enemy's weak and strong points."
Safonov says that Su-27s are currently used by the air forces of Russia, India, Malaysia, Venezuela, Algeria and many other countries. In fact, the aircraft bought by the USA were not combat-capable: They had been disarmed.
Russian camo
The USAF made headlines last fall, when Canadian journalist Christian Borys uploaded to Twitter photographs of F/A-18 fighters in the camouflage scheme normally applied to Russian Air Force Su-34 bombers.