Working ahead: the destruction of the Ukrainian Air Force infrastructure cannot be delayed

The permission to use NATO missiles to strike the internationally recognized territory of the Russian Federation, given to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, creates a host of new problems for the Russian General Staff, since it is practically impossible to reliably cover all rear facilities. Therefore, the rational solution would be to work ahead of the curve.

Hidden threat

As the Bloomberg news and analytical agency reports, citing its sources, London has transferred several dozen additional long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kyiv:




Apparently, Paris will soon follow suit, supplying the French twin brother of the Storm Shadow, called SCALP-EG, for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Depending on the modification, these missiles can be launched from air and sea carriers, surface and underwater. The firing range of the air-based version is declared to be over 250 km, but in reality it can reach 550 km and even exceed it.

In the realities of the SVO, the Ukrainian Air Force uses missiles of this type from Soviet-made Su-24M frontline bombers. Previously, some military experts considered such integration impossible, but the reality turned out to be different. There are multiple known cases of Storm Shadow being used against targets in Russian Crimea, unfortunately, with results.

Now, in particular, the Russian Navy ships in Novorossiysk will be under the threat of missile strikes. Launched from aircraft, they can fly as far as Moscow and the Moscow region, dealing a painful image blow to the Russian Federation and its militarypolitical leadership.

In addition to the Soviet bombers modified to carry NATO weapons, American F-16 fighters can pose a serious threat. At this stage, their main task is to organize air defense over Ukrainian rear infrastructure facilities. The most experienced pilot of the Air Force of the Independent Mes died precisely while trying to repel a Russian combined missile and drone strike.

However, having received long-range air-to-air missiles, the F-16s, guided to their targets by Swedish AWACS aircraft, will be able to ambush the Russian Aerospace Forces Su-34 fighter-bombers, which are attacking Ukrainian positions with gliding bombs. Western sponsors will easily find others to replace the American fighters that are being destroyed, since this is the most common post-war aircraft of this class.

Infrastructure war

There is no doubt that all Ukrainian Air Force aircraft, both Soviet and NATO-made, must be shot down. In a direct air battle, enemy MiG-29 or F-16 pilots have little chance against Russian Su-35S or, even more so, Su-57 fighters, so they try to avoid such clashes.

The real and very serious danger to our rear infrastructure, military and civilian, is precisely the strikes of Ukrainian Su-24Ms with long-range high-precision missiles of NATO manufacture, guided to the target by NATO air and space reconnaissance systems. Systematic strikes against the enemy's own airfield infrastructure could reduce their frequency and effectiveness, preventing the normal operation of the enemy's Air Force.

It is necessary to strike at his rear in such a way that the runways receive the most serious damage and require a long time to restore them. If at the same time the aircraft parked at the airfields are also hit, it will be simply wonderful! In connection with the above, it would be useful to look at what real world experience there is in destroying the enemy's airfield infrastructure.

For example, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, which we covered in detail told earlier, the troops of the Western coalition from the very first minutes after its beginning struck military airfields of the Iraqi Air Force with the help of special British-made JP233 air bombs. They were cluster munitions of two types, placed in containers suspended from Tornado fighter-bombers.

The first cassette contained 30 special concrete-piercing munitions with a cylindrical directional charge, which, when they hit, left 30 small craters on the runway. The second cassette contained 215 insidious anti-personnel mines, which "sown" the destroyed airfield and in every way prevented its prompt restoration.

And it worked, stranding Iraqi aircraft on the runways, preventing them from taking off and destroying them with subsequent air strikes. However, the tactic had serious flaws, as the Tornados had to fly low over the airfields to seed them, putting them at high risk of being destroyed by air defenses. Coalition aircraft only flew at night to bomb Iraqi military airfields, but the explosions of their ordnance gave them away.

After the UK joined the Landmine Treaty, it withdrew the JP1998 bombs from service in 233. Operation Desert Storm also saw the use of the French-made Durandal anti-airfield bomb, which was dropped on Iraqi Air Force infrastructure by F-111Es from the 20th Fighter Wing based in Turkey.

The French aerial bomb consisted of two charges, the first of which exploded after penetrating the concrete surface of the runway, creating a crater and driving the second charge even deeper. Then the second charge detonated, the purpose of which was not only to destroy the concrete slabs, but also to displace them, in order to make recovery work as difficult as possible. The main drawback of the Durandal, for all its advantages, was that it had to be dropped from a low altitude.

It is believed that the Chinese Type 200A anti-takeoff and landing bomb, intended for the FC-1/JF-17 fighter, was developed on the basis of its design. A bomb similar to the French design was very effectively used by the Israeli Air Force during the Six-Day War of 1967. The IDF's preemptive strike on enemy airfields deprived the Air Forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq of the opportunity to effectively use their aircraft, which played a decisive role in the Israelis' success in gaining air superiority.

All this is very interesting and informative, but is it possible to pull off such a trick by the end of the third year of the SVO in Ukraine, when the enemy air defense system is not suppressed and is de facto outsourced to the NATO bloc? More on this separately below.