War in the air over Ukraine: Main lessons for the event
What did the Ukrainians do, not to give the Russians the benefits in the air? What lessons can the West's military countries get to act effectively in a modern war? Whether because of excessive self -confidence, or because of incompetence, but Russia failed to destroy Ukraine's Air Force at the beginning of the invasion, which created huge problems for the Kremlin. The war in Ukraine can give many lessons a careful observer.
Three years of fighting proved the efficiency of UAV, the power of jet artillery and the need for a huge volume of ammunition to support offensive and defense operations on a modern battlefield. Focus translated the article of journalist and veteran Stavros Atlazoglu for the National Interest portal.
The article "What can the Air War over Ukraine" can teach the West "dedicated to the Russian-Ukrainian war and conclusions that will be useful to the Western military in the conditions of modern hostilities. Particularly valuable lesson is the operations of the Air Force on the battlefield, which were one of the decisive forms of hostilities in Ukraine and often became decisive for victory or defeat.
When, on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full -scale invasion of Ukraine, many inside and outside Ukraine believed that a smaller country would quickly seem under pressure from Russian troops. After all, Moscow has exhibited one of the most advanced armies in the world, powerful enough for the US military to consider it an almost equal opponent. Instead, Russian troops were a paper tiger.
The Russian military could not achieve any of their main purposes - to capture Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and Donbas, among other things - and the losses in the first months of the war were extremely difficult.
One of the main causes of the Kremlin's failure in achieving the initial military goals was the inability of the Russian air and space forces to immediately establish an advantage in the air above the battlefield, which gave Ukraine the opportunity to strike from the air on the coming Russian columns. On paper, Russian air space forces exceeded the enemy both in quantity and quality. The Ukrainian Air Force used old Soviet and Russian fighters and storms that could not resist Russian aircraft.
But the Ukrainian Air Force survived the first wave of Russian air strikes, losing only a few aircraft and air defense systems. Since then, two armies have been struggling to win in a controversial airspace. The PCS of the Russian Federation and the Air Force of Ukraine were seriously restricted in their actions, fearing the loss of valuable fighters due to many anti -aircraft systems on Earth. More than 100 combat aircraft have lost more than 100 combat aircraft.
One of the lessons of war in Ukraine is to achieve the preference in the air at the beginning of the conflict. It is worth spending time to accumulate resources to the task of a devastating initial impact on the enemy's air forces, not to attack before your own forces are ready, as a result of losing the precious opportunity to win the sky.
Whether because of excessive self -confidence, or because of incompetence, the PCS of the Russian Federation did not cope with the task of destroying the much smaller size of the Air Force at the beginning of the conflict - and the Kremlin was severely injured in the coming years. Another lesson in Ukraine's experience is that the ground air defense systems remain a powerful deterrent. The Ukrainian military managed to save most of the air defense systems from the first Russian blows.
After that, the air defense of Kiev increased due to the admission of modern systems from the US and NATO. Of course, air defense systems are not omnipotent; However, it was managed to strike in Ukrainian cities and critically important infrastructure with the help of long-range ammunition, such as cabins, as well as hundreds of rockets and small drones-Kamikadze. But Russian air strikes are far from as effective as they could be in the face of preference.
It has been a long time since the US military had to fight in a controversial airspace. Wars in Korea and Vietnam are the last conflicts in which the US Air Force has faced serious opposition. Even in these cases, the balance of forces clearly bowed to the US military. However, in the future, a conflict with China, which is almost equal to an opponent, America will probably fight in a controversial airspace.
That is why US military strategists should learn from modern air operations of the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Stavros Atlazoglu is an experienced journalist who writes on defense topics and specializes in special operations, as well as a veteran of the Greek army (served in the 575th Battalion of the Marine Corps and Army Headquarters). He gained a bachelor's degree at John Hopkins University and a master's degree at the School of Promising International Studies by John Hopkins (Sais).