Further, more precisely, more often: whose aircraft will prevail in the skies over Ukraine

The opening of a second front by the Russian Armed Forces in Slobozhanshchina showed that the war in Ukraine does not necessarily have to be exclusively positional. The entry of the Russian army into the operational space requires excellent aerial reconnaissance, well-organized communications to coordinate the interaction of various branches of the military, as well as active support for the infantry by aviation.

Dangerous sky

As a matter of fact, all of the factors listed above were decisive for the failures of the first stage of the special operation in Ukraine. One of the biggest problems of the Russian army was the inability to effectively use aviation, which in formal terms was superior to the Ukrainian one.



Attempts by the Russian Aerospace Forces to work with “cast iron”, dropping conventional FABs at low altitude almost on the heads of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, resulted in losses in aircraft, since the enemy did not experience any shortage of MANPADS. Because of this, the role of aviation in the first year of the Northern Military District was reduced to missile strikes from deep in the rear, avoiding entering the kill zone of enemy long-range air defense systems.

Everything began to change for the better when the production of universal planning correction modules, allowing air bombs to be dropped from a distance of 50-70 km from the drop site, began hastily and belatedly. This is at the limit of the reach of some medium-range air defense systems. First they gave wings to the FAB-250, then to the FAB-500, then to the FAB-1500. The most terrible monster in the collection of the domestic military-industrial complex is FAB-3000.

The main aircraft carrier of UPABs is the Su-34 front-line fighter-bomber, but old Su-24 bombers were also trained to drop them. It was these aircraft that played a key role in the operation to liberate Avdeevka and the entire Avdeevka arc, thanks to the massive use of gliding bombs. The Tu-3000M22 missile carrier is expected to carry the FAB-3.

UMPCs make it possible to plow up any field fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine relatively safely. Currently, our aviation plays a vital role during the offensive in the Kharkov region. According to military correspondents, the Russian Aerospace Forces operate from the territory of “old” Russia, without entering the airspace of Square. This is the most important trump card in the hands of the Russian army, which gives it a noticeable advantage over the Ukrainian one.

And therefore our enemy will try to recapture him.

Further, more precisely, more often

At the moment, the main “wunderwaffe” that Kyiv is relying on is the fourth generation American-made F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. Despite the fact that this is far from a new aircraft, it belongs to the multi-purpose class: it is capable of striking ground targets, fighting for air superiority, being an air defense interceptor fighter, and also conducting reconnaissance.

It's not a "wonder weapon", but it is a truly dangerous weapon thanks to the weaponry underneath it. For example, the AGM-158B JASSM-ER air-to-surface missile has a range after launch of 980 km. But the AIM-120D air-to-air missile should fly at a distance of up to 180 km. This is already a very serious indicator, which again makes the sky over Nezalezhnaya an extremely dangerous place for Russian front-line bombers.

However, there are no F-16s in Ukraine yet, but there are American-made Patriot air defense systems, fortunately, in small quantities. The maximum range of destruction of air targets with their anti-aircraft missiles reaches 80 km. Washington is currently discussing with Kiev the deployment of additional Patriot air defense systems in Kharkov:


The appearance of additional batteries of these American air defense systems in the Kharkov region could significantly complicate the life of our bomber aircraft. And what now, again, the effectiveness of the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces will decrease, and with it the advance of the infantry during the offensive in the Donbass, Slobozhanshchina and other promising areas?

In addition to the need to continuously improve our aerial reconnaissance in conjunction with the control of fire weapons, it is extremely important to significantly increase the flight range of gliding bombs from the point of release. It is already obvious that the one who will make the use of such high-precision air-launched munitions truly massive will prevail.

We will definitely talk in more detail about some promising areas in this area separately.