RF Outline: Experts explained whether Russia would use aviation massively in the war (photo)
This was reported on February 16 by the edition "Important History" with reference to anonymous sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to the interlocutor of the publication, the Russian army still has an undeniable advantage in the air above the Armed Forces. Although helicopters and planes will definitely knock down the forces of defense will still have problems. "Earlier, it (aviation) was kept, it almost did not fly to the area of Ukrainian air defense.
Now they decided to change the tactics," - quoted journalists. Military analysts explained to the observers that the Russian air-space forces have enough, but there is a shortage of experienced and skilled pilots. According to expert Jan Matveyev, it is the lack of experienced pilots that does not allow massive use of combat aviation in the Russian-Ukrainian war. "Back in March last year, there was information that the planes were being planted in the planes.
Since then, PCS has been intensified and after 11 months were able to study the large batch of crews in an emergency," Matveev said, at the same time doubts about the level of preparation of these pilots. . Another military analyst noted that the problem of PCS is that previously Russian pilots did not participate in such a large -scale conflict and the tasks facing combat aviation have not yet been performed.
At the same time, the expert emphasized in the current situation on the importance of suppressing the air defense systems. According to him, probably, the tactics of suppression of air defense were also worked on training, but real combat experience will replace nothing. Experts suggest that it will be extremely difficult to suppress the means of Ukraine's air defense, since the Armed Forces have systems of medium radius (for example, German IRIS-T,-ed. ).
To "hide" from their radars, the enemy is forced to go at low altitude, but in this case, the planes become vulnerable to the portable SPRs of the STinger type. "To directly support the troops, planes usually work at a low altitude. Where they can be removed by manual installations," Matveev added. On the other hand, the Ukrainian air defense forces will still be difficult, as the fight against fighters is different from the interception of enemy drones and winged missiles.
The fact is that the rockets, despite the great speed of flight, still fly along a given trajectory, even in complex. At the same time, the fighter has a much greater maneuverability, which complicates its destruction in the air. "The pilot knows when he was shot down and can remove the plane from the lesion area. Therefore, of course, the efficiency of the air defense falls somewhat," Matveev explained.
Journalists write that according to both experts, both the Russian and Ukrainian armies do not use aviation deep along the front line of the enemy. This suggests that each party is afraid of loss, which for its part indicates the great efficiency of air defense. British intelligence estimates, as of February 16, Russia has about 1,500 combat aircraft, and a total of PKS has lost about 130 cars in Ukraine.
The UK Ministry of Defense also noted that since the summer of last year, the number of Russians's combat departures has been gradually decreasing, but recently the use of aviation has returned to the former level. In general, it is expected that large -scale operations in the air will not conduct, as it will lead to heavy losses. Earlier, Financial Times reporters reported that, according to Western intelligence, Russia is accumulating combat aviation on the border with Ukraine.