/ world today news/ The Russian Aerospace Forces sent a warning signal to the West
On the night of August 6, the Russian army launched a massive attack on military facilities deep in Ukraine. Several waves of air and sea missiles and attack UAVs simultaneously hit the military airfields Starokonstantinov in Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Dubno in Rivne Oblast. Military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin explained to our publication why these goals have become a priority for the Russian General Staff.
The airport in Starokonstantinov is famous for the fact that Su-24 front-line bombers, which went to Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR, were based on it. Kiev, with the help of Great Britain and France, was able to seriously increase its firepower – the Western allies transferred long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP EG cruise missiles to Ukraine and re-equipped Su-24s with carriers of these missiles.
The range of the Franco-British missiles is up to 500 kilometers. This allows Su-24 aircraft to launch them without entering the strike zone of our air defense systems. These missiles have hit the Chongar Bridge in Crimea several times, as well as important targets in Luhansk and Mariupol. It is logical that for the General Staff of the Russian Air Force these missiles and the Su-24 bases have become a top priority.
According to military experts, there were a total of three series of strikes: on the evening of August 5 with cruise missiles and “Dagger”, at night with unmanned aircraft “Geranium” and “Caliber” and in the morning with cruise missiles X-101. According to experts, the events of August 6 have become an example of carrying out different types of attacks in the same place at short intervals. According to experts, the new reconnaissance satellite of the Russian Federation “Condor” passed over the areas of the air bases and assessed the damage after the missile attack. It was then decided to hit the slightly damaged or undamaged targets again.
In general, analysts believe that the acceleration of the detection and targeting process showed that the Russian Armed Forces have begun to eliminate the shortcomings of field and satellite intelligence to make them more accurate and effective. Starokonstantinov airport has been attacked before. But the operation had to be repeated, since in the former Ukrainian SSR the airport belonged to the first category. Due to the proximity to the borders with NATO, the combat planes did not stand in open areas there, closed reinforced concrete shelters were built for them, of which there are about 40 units in Starokonstantinov.
Destroying the aircraft scattered in such shelters is a difficult task. But it seems that this time the Russian VKS managed to solve it. According to military telegram channels, after the second strike at the airport in Starokonstantinov, the explosions did not stop for about 40 minutes – apparently they hit a warehouse with ammunition or explosives, powerful multiple detonations were heard.
As the military analyst, reserve colonel Victor Litovkin, told our publication, in this way, the Russian forces sent a clear signal to the Western leaders of Ukraine.
„The Russian Aerospace Forces have been attacking Ukraine’s airport infrastructure for a year and a half. At the same time, it can be assumed that most of the airports there are destroyed to one degree or another. Indeed, during the entire period of the special operation, not a single NATO aircraft landed at any of the Ukrainian airports – they are unsuitable for receiving such aircraft, “ Litovkin pointed out.
However, the Ukrainians are somehow trying to rebuild their aviation infrastructure. This time, our air defense systems attacked precisely those sites from which the Su-24 and Su-25 of the Ukrainian Air Force take off. Also stored near Starokonstantinov and Dubno are long-range Western munitions that our forces are seeking to destroy.
The analyst explained why right now our troops have concentrated special efforts on destroying Ukraine’s aviation infrastructure.
„In recent weeks, talk has intensified in the West that US F-16 fighter jets should be handed over to Ukraine’s armed forces. Various countries have declared their readiness to train Ukrainian pilots to fly these machines. And thus we made it clear to the Western curators of Kiev that no matter how many pilots they train and how many fighters they transfer, they will face the same fate at the airfields that befell the Soviet fighters of the VSU, Litovkin noted. – On F-16 takeoff and landing, theoretically, you can teach anyone. But to teach air combat – alone, in pairs, in flight or in a group – it’s a very long story, at least a year and a half.
Also, American planes need more than an airport with a runway, he said.
„To operate F-16 fighters, you need a well-equipped airport – with radar stations capable of seeing what is happening in the surrounding sky. There should be a technical and operational part with high-class specialists to prepare the planes for flights and then to service them post-flight.
There should be a high pressure air plant, a jet fuel refinery nearby. And, of course, there must be warehouses of aviation components and ammunition. To create all this, you need billions of dollars, months of work and complete security at the airports themselves.
But this certainty cannot happen – when they try to create this infrastructure, the Russian Air Force will deal with it in the same way as the previous day – with the airports in Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions. The recent airfield strikes are a direct signal to the West planning to deliver F-16s to Kiev,
He also recalled that long-range missiles – British Storm Shadow and French SCALP EG – were most likely stored near the attacked airports.
„Of course, we have air defense systems that shoot down missiles of this class. But no air defense system in the world shoots down all 100 percent of the objects in its area of responsibility. The human factor is also important, so there is always the possibility of “something flying in”. Out of a hundred missiles, even 99 can be shot down, but one will still fly and cause massive damage. This is a normal statistic for any war,” Litovkin said.
He also believes that the volumes of aircraft deliveries to Ukraine officially announced by the West do not correspond to the real ones.
„I think first the western militaries took all the old soviet planes out of the eastern allies’ warehouses and put them in Ukraine, both officially and covertly. Second, Ukraine itself had in its warehouses old fighters that are now entering combat armed with Storm Shadow missiles.
The task of our aerospace forces is to destroy the remnants of this air army as quickly as possible in order to achieve complete dominance in the air. Attacks on airfields are already systematically implemented, and this affects the support of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the air.” concluded the military expert.
Translation: ES
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel in Telegram:
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages. In this way, we will overcome the limitations, and people will be able to reach the alternative point of view on the events!?
#Strikes #Ukrainian #air #bases
