Russland vs. Ukraine

[Quintus Fabius]

Faszinierende Einblicke in den einfach nur noch bemerkenswerten Kampf der ukrainischen Luftwaffe, welche nicht nur weiter existiert, sondern welche trotz aller Widrigkeiten immer noch substanzielle Effekte erzielt.

Die heroische Aufopferung, dass durch Anpassung und Lernen erworbene herausragende Können und der Heldenmut der ukrainischen Piloten sind es Wert in die Kriegsgeschichte einzugehen:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/a-...er-ukraine

Als der Krieg losging gingen eigentlich alle Piloten davon aus, in Kürze tot zu sein. Trotzdem kämpften sie und kämpften immer weiter und schließlich überlebten sie - zu ihrer eigenen Verblüffung ! und kämpften weiter. Allein die Einsatzbelastung dieser Piloten ist meiner Kenntnis nach für die Moderne beispiellos.

Besonders erwähnenswert ist die Bekämpfung von Drohnen und Marschflugkörpern durch die ukrainischen Flugzeuge und die Anti-Radar-Misssionen:

Aside from drone hunting, another new mission for the MiG-29 (and Su-27) since our first interview involves employing the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM). Juice has not yet flown a HARM mission but is full of praise for the weapon and the new capability it brings.

“After the delivery of HARMs, it became a new priority for our air force to maintain and to refurbish more jets for these missions because it really works and it’s really helpful for our joint operations,” Juice says. “After that our air force became much more capable.”

In fact, the availability of HARM means that the Ukrainian Air Force can even start to emulate Western-style operations, with suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) packages working closely to escort strike aircraft to their targets. Of course, there are still severe limitations on Ukrainian air combat capabilities, and Juice identifies key missing parts of the puzzle, such as precision-guided air-to-ground munitions, active-radar air-to-air missiles, and advanced fighter radars. “We are trying to do our best with what we have and now it looks much, much better overall,” Juice notes. In particular, he has observed with interest how Russian military bloggers have reacted to HARM. “They’re very, very angry there, because of our successes. [/quote]

Die Bedeutung der EloKa muss selbst hier erneut einmal mehr hervor gehoben werden:

The Ukrainian admits that the Russian enemy has become much smarter, learning from its limitations and heavy losses in the first weeks of the campaign. The Russians still maintain round-the-clock combat air patrols (CAPs) with fighter jets, which are supported by A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and Il-20 Coot-A signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft.

As well as the basic Il-20 that is able to snoop on Ukrainian electronic and radio emissions, its Il-22PP Mute derivative has also been regularly present. The Il-22PP adds a standoff jamming capability and is primarily directed against air defense radars, part of a comprehensive Russian electronic warfare fleet that also includes jamming helicopters, as well as Su-24MR Fencer-E and Su-34 Fullback aircraft carrying intelligence-gathering and jamming pods.

“They’re doing that almost 24/7 so that’s very dangerous for our air defense,” Juice states. “The main danger is that a Su-35 on a CAP can carry not only air-to-air weapons but also the Kh-31P, PD, or PM [AS-17 Krypton anti-radiation missiles], so it could be directed by their air battle managers to engage our air defenses. And they also have their own Khibiny electronic countermeasures pods. Using all of that, it’s a great danger for us

Another concerning new Russian weapon is the very long-range R-37M (AA-13 Axehead) air-to-air missile, carried by the Su-35S and MiG-31BM Foxhound-C. This weapon wasn’t used in the first months of the war, but appeared during the summer and, in Juice’s words, is “fucking dangerous.” The very long reach of the R-37M — reportedly 124 miles — can threaten Ukrainian aircraft even when fired from well within Russian airspace.

Es wäre dringend an der Zeit der ukrainischen Luftwaffe deutlich mehr und bessere Mittel zur Verfügung zu stellen. Das könnte langfristig gesehen sogar noch wesentlicher sein als mehr bodengestützte Luftraumverteidigung - die man natürlich zusätzlich trotzdem liefern müsste. Damit ihr Überleben nicht mehr so weitgehend nur an ihren Fähigkeiten hängt

Because we understood their tactics during the engagement of this missile, we created our own techniques to help to avoid that. But still, it is limiting our capabilities to conduct our missions. Of course, if you’re maneuvering, we are not able to provide an airstrike or something else, so the game is still very, very, very tough in the air and very, very risky. If you’re not aware of the launch of a missile, you’re dead.”

Ein Aspekt noch den der ukrainische Pilot hier hervor hebt ist der ständige Aufwuchst der Lufteinheiten von Wagner, über den ich in den letzten Monaten auch andernorten etliches gelesen habe:

In the case of the Wagner-operated Su-24s and Su-25s, “it’s old grandpas flying these jets, but still it’s also a threat. It’s also a threat because they’re crazy. They actually don’t have any rules of engagement because they are not official combatants. They don’t care about people. They don’t care about civilians. They’re just mercenaries — they are just murderous and that’s all.”

Eine weitere für mich hochinteressante Anmerkung ist die Gewichtung von Kampfhubschraubern durch ukrainische Piloten:

Most critically, Juice says Army Aviation needs modern attack helicopters. While second-hand Mi-24s have been provided by the Czech Republic, plus Mi-17s from the United States and a few more from other countries, what’s really needed is a helicopter in the class of the AH-1W Super Cobra or AH-1Z Viper.

Angeblich sind die veralteten ukrainischen Helis erstaunlich erfolgreich. Man stelle sich nun vor, was die Ukraine mit TIGER Hubschraubern anrichten könnte. Insbesondere da der Tiger explizit den aktuellen typischen ukrainischen Heli-Taktiken und dem Primat auf die Panzerjagd extrem entgegen kommen würde. Das wäre mal ein ernsthaftes politisches Signal und wesentlich wertvoller für die Ukraine als Leopard 2 Kampfpanzer.

“I really hope that the Western governments will help us with this,” says Juice, noting that any modern attack helicopter could be put to use, whether it’s an AH-1, Airbus Helicopters Tiger, or even an AH-64 Apache. It’s science fiction for us, we really want that, but even if we have something like the Super Cobra, it will be very, very important for the front lines because it’s capable of engaging targets with high-precision standoff weapons in the daytime and at night.”

Bezüglich westlicher Kampfflugzeuge würden die meisten ukrainischen Piloten die F-16 vorziehen, wobei auch die Gripen immer wieder genannt wird, primär aber in Verbindung mit einer zugleich erfolgenden Lieferung von Meteor. Ohne Meteor würde man die F-16 vorziehen.