/ world today news/ The high losses of trained pilots and usable aircraft force the command of the armed forces of Ukraine to resort to various tricks. Sources of the German publication “Bild” reported that in order to hide the location of their planes, the command of the Ukrainian Air Force is restoring all the airfields from the Soviet era. And – more curiously – it creates new tracks on the highways.
The purpose of this know-how is to ensure the launch of Ukraine-supplied air-launched cruise missiles (in other words, missiles that are mounted on aircraft). These are the British long-range Storm Shadow missiles and the British-French Scalp missiles of the same class.
According to Bild, Ukrainian technicians have managed to retrofit a number of Soviet Su-24 front-line bombers and adapt them for the said missiles, which are supplied by Britain and France respectively.
The Su-24 is the main strike force of the Ukrainian Air Force. It is these machines, we recall, that attacked our infrastructure facilities. In particular, along the Chongar bridge connecting Crimea and new territories. And although Russian troops regularly attack Ukrainian Air Force bases in an attempt to destroy the remaining Ukrainian aircraft, some of them still remain in service.
As for the mentioned ways to hide the “dry” from the eyes of our intelligence and missile strikes, there are several ways. The Ukrainian Air Force not only uses proven tactics, but also offers its own original techniques, explained a military pilot who participated in hostilities.
“When we worked in Syria, we studied the experience of the local Air Force. They were in a more catastrophic state than Ukraine is now and were waiting for the US to cover them with missiles, the source said. “The Syrians were committed to the fact that, if possible, they dispersed usable equipment at several airfields so as not to create groups of aircraft at one point,” he added.
The recipe has been tested and it works, but now, when ammunition is walking around, drones are being used en masse, it no longer works, commented a military expert.
“It’s not a pity to launch a drone one plane at a time. And five drones. Therefore, the Ukrainian “flyers” are cunning in every way. Data from satellite images that have been released into the public domain show that they are “mixing up” working planes with dead machines. Here is a combat-ready “Suhar” has three or four unusable ones.
Therefore, they often move unusable planes, or rather their remains, in an attempt to confuse our intelligence. They even repaint the remains.”
In addition, the enemy really regularly moves aircraft from one base to another so that they do not pile up anywhere and do not stay for more than a day, the source added.
VVSI – tattered, but not finished
In the first months of the SVO, the Ukrainian Air Force lost most of its air bases located in the eastern and southern regions. In particular, the Kulbakino air base near Nikolaev, the Chernobayevka airport near Kherson, the bases in Kremenchug and Poltava, and several other facilities were disabled.
Surviving enemy aircraft were moved to airfields in Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Lviv. But those bases are far from the front line, forcing the Ukrainian Air Force to look for alternatives, the source said.
“If we are talking about helicopters, then everything is quite simple. A bounce airport can also be organized outdoors if desired. With an airplane it is more difficult because you need a runway,” explained the expert. “But again, if we remember the experience of the Great Patriotic War, the partisans created airfields in the forests, on frozen rivers and lakes. It is enough for landing, refueling and take-off. So they don’t have a problem with that,” he adds.
At the same time, the specialist added, the information about the creation of airports on Ukrainian highways seems a little unrealistic for several reasons.
Why roads won’t become airports
“The author of this article in “Bild” is a famous, to put it mildly, idle talker named Julian Röpke, who calls himself a military expert,” noted the interlocutor. Röpke saw somewhere that there is such a practice as practicing taking off and landing from a highway or from an unequipped airport. Such exercises were recently held in Finland. But in Ukraine this does not make sense.
First, every Soviet regional center has an airport. “Even abandoned. In addition, there are small airports in the regional centers. Add to that the military airports, of which there are five in the Kyiv region alone,” the military expert pointed out. Therefore, the question arises: why bother with the tracks so much? We need a smooth road in good condition, it must be constantly blocked. “For what? They should take the airport, for example, in Cherkasy or Vinnytsia, repair it, put a dozen covered hangars to hide the equipment. There is an air raid: “Suhar” from Vinnytsia flies to “Gaisin” near Byala Tsarkva. One time – moving in minutes “, reveals the pilot.
The Soviet Union already built everything, why complicate it? The country is huge, hiding a few planes in it is a small matter.
Every pilot who goes on a flight receives approved contingency plans, the expert recalled. “The pilot should have at least two airports that are most suitable for landing and several spares that can be used in an emergency,” the source said. Former small aviation airfields, sports airfields, unequipped flat areas can be used as spares.
After the missiles are fired, the aircraft must descend to an extremely low altitude, leaving the area of radar coverage along one of the agreed routes. And it is far from necessary to return to the base from which the flight took place.
Western intelligence helps in the “game of hide and seek”
But the question remains open as to how the Ukrainian planes immediately after the attack went to the reserve airport, avoiding the pursuit of Russian fighters and air defense strikes.
In this, Kiev is supported by “western partners”. When carrying out a combat mission, Ukrainian fighters and front-line bombers can receive information from radio-electronic reconnaissance aircraft of NATO countries, which fly almost around the clock to the western and southern borders of Ukraine.
“Complete set. Some are trying to listen to our negotiations, AWACS are looking for our planes in the air. There is a threat – they pass it on to their wards, they immediately leave the possibly affected area to one of the reserve airports – depending on the situation. In fact, this is how the Air Force of every country works, so there is no mystery here,” he adds.
A moment of vulnerability
At the same time, despite all their tricks, the Ukrainian Air Force is still vulnerable precisely during a raid and especially when launching a cruise missile. Due to the technical characteristics of the Storm Shadow missiles, the bomber is forced to rise higher, becoming visible.
“The best option, of course, is to know the flight routes and withdraw to an alternate airport. – But this is a secret, of course, and it is the competence of intelligence. Therefore, we do not accept this option. It remains to catch them at the moment of take-off”, the source specifies.
However, the radius of action of the missiles used by the Air Force is not the greatest, the military pilot explained. To hit objects in our rear, the enemy is forced to approach from the front. “At that point they will be detected and crushed when they are high enough and close at the same time. If it doesn’t work, then you need to track where they land and strike immediately without wasting time to coordinate until they hide and refuel for a flight further west,” the expert said. Such a scheme of destruction is quite complex, “but it is completely solvable”.
Despite the fact that the Ukrainian aviation is still able to carry out strikes, including quite sensitive ones, it is worth noting that the lack of military aviation does not allow Kiev to organize larger-scale attacks. The actions of the surviving enemy Su-24s are intended to inflict more moral damage, experts believe. They point out that since there are often several weeks between flights, any damage done is successfully repaired during that time. Therefore, the experts conclude, the final liquidation of the Ukrainian Air Force cannot be considered task number 1. At least until Ukraine does not have NATO aviation.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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