The US Air Force has gussied up an older fighter jet to make it look like Russia’s new Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter with reports in US media suggesting that the paint job is designed to simulate “realistic enemies.”

The US Air Force’s 64th Aggressor Squadron based at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada released a video of an F-16C Fighting Falcon getting painted in the digital pixelated camouflage paint scheme of the advanced Russian fighter, which is due to enter service in the Russian Aerospace Forces later this year.

“A new adversary has arrived. The GHOST is here! Be afraid!” The Air Force Base said in a post on its Facebook page.

The Russian paint scheme was selected following an internet vote and speaking to The Drive, Brig. Gen. Robert Novotny, a commander at the base, said the “aggressor” planes are specifically designed to “realistically simulate” air combat against “probable enemies.”

It seems optimistic to believe that giving a fourth-generation jet a lick of paint will make it a plausible stand-in for the fifth generation Su-57, whose paint is specially formulated to make the jet avoid radar detection, but the US Air Force has tried the experiment nonetheless.

In fact, the 64th Aggressor Squadron regularly paints aircraft with designs that imitate potential adversaries, including Russia and China.

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