Aggressor squadron
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An aggressor squadron is a squadron that is trained to act as an opposing force in military wargames. 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). They frequently use enemy planes and equipment, if available. Aggressor squadrons were first created in the late 1970s by both the United States Navy and Air Force in an effort to better train American pilots during the Vietnam War after seeing the kill ratio drop to unsustainable numbers.
Aggressor squadrons in the US armed forces include the 26th, 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadron and 527th Space Aggressor Squadron (USAF), VMFT-401 (US Marine Corps) and the famous "Top Gun" Naval Fighter Weapons School (US Navy).
Images and information about VMFT-401's operations can be found [here].
Aggressor Aircraft
US aggressor squadrons fly light and extremely agile strike fighters. Originally Douglas A-4s (US Navy) and Northrop F-5s (US Navy and Air Force) were flown. These were eventually supplemented by early-model F/A-18s (US Navy) and F-16s (US Navy and Air Force). Much evidence indicates that a "Red Star" aggressor squadron based out of Area 51 flies, or has flown, a variety of captured MiG fighters as aggressor aircraft. Starting at the end of 2005, the USAF has started using the larger and faster F-15 Eagle as an aggressor aircraft alongside the F-16 at Nellis Air Force Base. Nellis will soon receive a total of 24 Eagles to be used in adversary training.
Foreign aircraft have been used as aggressors in the United States, most notably the Israeli Kfir fighter, designated F-21 in its use as an aggressor in the US.
While aircraft used for the aggressor role are usually older jet fighters, this is not always the case. During the mid-1980s, the US Navy determined that the A-4s and F-5s flow at Top Gun were not adequate in simulating the air-to-air capabilities of the newest Russian fighters such as the MiG-29 and Su27. At this point, the most agile American fighter was arguably the F-16, but this land-based jet was not flown by the US Navy. The Navy thus asked Lockheed Martin to design and build a variant of the F-16 specifically for the naval aggressor role. Any equipment not necessary for visual-range aerial combat was removed, decreasing the usefulness of these aircraft in actual combat but enhancing their agility and dogfighting abilities. These aggressor F-16s were designated F-16N, and twenty-two were built for the US Navy and flown at its famous "Top Gun" Fighter Weapons School starting in 1987. However, due to the unusually frequent high loads imposed on these aircraft, cracks were detected on the wings after only a few years of operation, leading to the retirement of the F-16N in 1994. In 2002 the Navy began to receive fourteen F-16 A and B models from AMARC, once again for adversary training.
Aggressor aircraft in the United States are typically painted in colorful cammouflage schemes, matching the colors found in many Russian aircraft and contrasting with the gray colors used in most operational US combat aircraft. Camouflage schemes that consist of many shades of blue (similar to those used in Sukhoi fighters) or of green and mostly-light brown (similar to the colors used in many Middle Eastern countries' combat aircraft) are most common.
Private / Outsourced Aggressors
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. Some of these missions are outsourced to private companies that operate ex-military jets or small business jets in the aggressor role. Such aircraft include the L39, Alpha Jet, Hawker Hunter, Saab Draken, Kfir, A-4 Skyhawk, and various models of Lear Jets. Most pilots who fly for these companies have experience flying combat aircraft. Examples of such companies include [ATAC USA], Top Aces Consulting, [Advanced Training Systems International], and [Hawker Hunter Aviation].
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