The one clever trick Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian planes
March 7, 2024
The one clever trick Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian planes
by TheTelegraph
9 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
The Ukrainian air force went on an unprecedented aerial kill-streak last month. In 12 days starting on Feb. 17, the air force – which operates Ukraine’s warplanes and also its ground-based air defenses – claimed it shot down a staggering 13 Russian warplanes.
It’s not possible to independently confirm all the kills, and it’s possible the real number of shoot-downs is somewhat lower – or even higher.
But no one disputes that, last month, the Ukrainians shot down a *lot* of Russian planes. On average since Russia widened its war on Ukraine two years ago, the Russian air force and naval aviation have lost four planes a month to Ukrainian action. In the 24th month of the war, they may have lost at least *three times* that average.
The question is, *how?* What changed to make Russian planes more vulnerable, Ukrainian air defenses more deadly, or both? And is there a lesson for the wider world in that February aerial massacre?
It’s evident the Russian air force, which has deployed several hundred of its roughly 1,000 fighters plus several support planes for sorties over Ukraine, stepped up its operations in February. The Russian army was poised to finally push the ammunition-starved Ukrainian garrison out of the eastern city of Avdiivka – and the air force saw an opportunity to hasten the Ukrainians’ retreat.
The air force organized its 100 Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers and similar number of Sukhoi Su-35 air-superiority fighters into flights of three, loaded up the two-seat Su-34s with satellite-guided glide-bombs and the single-seat Su-35s with anti-radar missiles and sent the flights to strike Ukrainian positions in and around Avdiivka.
The Russians’ overall sortie rate at the height of the Avdiivka battle in mid-February exceeded a hundred per day – likely matching their sortie rate during the headiest early days of the way two years ago. Every one of the planes was a potential target for the Ukrainians’ ground-based missile batteries.
All things being equal, more aerial targets means more shoot-downs. But the elevated pace of Russian flights might not be the only factor in the February kill-streak. For starters, the Ukrainians appear to have taken some of the components of their three American-made Patriot missile batteries – their best air-defense batteries – and organized them into mobile units.
Traveling quickly just behind the front line, a couple of Patriot quad-launchers, connected to long-range radars via a radio data-link, could ambush Russian jets as far as 90 miles away then hit the road before the Russians can fire back. It’s this tactic that seems to have allowed the Ukrainians to knock down several Russian jets late last year in what amounted to a preview of the bloodier February campaign.
9 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
The Ukrainian air force went on an unprecedented aerial kill-streak last month. In 12 days starting on Feb. 17, the air force – which operates Ukraine’s warplanes and also its ground-based air defenses – claimed it shot down a staggering 13 Russian warplanes.
It’s not possible to independently confirm all the kills, and it’s possible the real number of shoot-downs is somewhat lower – or even higher.
But no one disputes that, last month, the Ukrainians shot down a *lot* of Russian planes. On average since Russia widened its war on Ukraine two years ago, the Russian air force and naval aviation have lost four planes a month to Ukrainian action. In the 24th month of the war, they may have lost at least *three times* that average.
The question is, *how?* What changed to make Russian planes more vulnerable, Ukrainian air defenses more deadly, or both? And is there a lesson for the wider world in that February aerial massacre?
It’s evident the Russian air force, which has deployed several hundred of its roughly 1,000 fighters plus several support planes for sorties over Ukraine, stepped up its operations in February. The Russian army was poised to finally push the ammunition-starved Ukrainian garrison out of the eastern city of Avdiivka – and the air force saw an opportunity to hasten the Ukrainians’ retreat.
The air force organized its 100 Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers and similar number of Sukhoi Su-35 air-superiority fighters into flights of three, loaded up the two-seat Su-34s with satellite-guided glide-bombs and the single-seat Su-35s with anti-radar missiles and sent the flights to strike Ukrainian positions in and around Avdiivka.
The Russians’ overall sortie rate at the height of the Avdiivka battle in mid-February exceeded a hundred per day – likely matching their sortie rate during the headiest early days of the way two years ago. Every one of the planes was a potential target for the Ukrainians’ ground-based missile batteries.
All things being equal, more aerial targets means more shoot-downs. But the elevated pace of Russian flights might not be the only factor in the February kill-streak. For starters, the Ukrainians appear to have taken some of the components of their three American-made Patriot missile batteries – their best air-defense batteries – and organized them into mobile units.
Traveling quickly just behind the front line, a couple of Patriot quad-launchers, connected to long-range radars via a radio data-link, could ambush Russian jets as far as 90 miles away then hit the road before the Russians can fire back. It’s this tactic that seems to have allowed the Ukrainians to knock down several Russian jets late last year in what amounted to a preview of the bloodier February campaign.
**Full story here:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/07/ukraine-war-russian-planes-shot-down-air-force/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/07/ukraine-war-russian-planes-shot-down-air-force/)
RU Experts hate this one trick
Am I reading this in stupid way or is the article saying that the trick is mostly that more planes equals more available to shoot down ?
So they hack SU-32 radar to show all hot milfs in their area?
I’m assuming the trick is that Ukraine doesn’t have drunk SAM operators?
Damn clickbait titles are going everywhere!
Is it missiles?
Wow, amazing ingenuity by UAF
TLDR; they use weapons