"Warthog" in the sky of Ukraine: everything is possible
Interesting things are happening in the US military. I am sure that in Ukraine they are watching what is happening very carefully, since this can benefit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And you can not extract, everything, as they say, is very ambiguous.
In general, the American military today are like diplomats. They don’t explain anything directly, but on the other hand, between the letters in the words they give out information that allows you to draw certain conclusions.
US Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Brown recently said that "the Ukrainian air force will eventually have to start to abandon its Soviet-era combat aircraft and everything that comes next will be something un-Russian."
In general, this is a very logical opinion, because Russian planes do not shine for Ukraine at all, and if there is Ukraine in the form in which the United States wants to see it, then its Air Force will be equipped with something from the arsenals of the West.
True, in the event of a non-Western outcome of the NMD, the Ukrainian Air Force will still be armed with Russian-made aircraft.
But here, as they say, time will put everything on the runways.
Climbing up the ranking ladder. And above us is US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who recently fell into the tenacious clutches of American journalists. And those, already aware of Brown's opinion, directly asked the minister about whether the States were going to share aviation with neighbors, that is, with Ukraine.
The Minister of the Air Force dodged like a diplomat during a discussion of the possibility of presenting a note, demonstrating serious preparation in this regard. But in the end, Kendall did not reject the possibility of considering in a positive way the issue of transferring A-10 attack aircraft, which are “Warthogs”, to Ukraine.
David Ignatius of The Washington Post, who moderated Kendall's Aspen talk, asked the Secretary of the Air Force about aircraft models that the US Air Force could safely part with. The answer was quite direct: “A-10… is not the system we need against the opponents we are most worried about right now,” Kendall replied.
In general, in 2023, the US Air Force plans to write off 23 A-10 units. Knowing this, Ignatius directly asked the question: “Why don’t we give these planes to Ukraine?”
The Minister, as you can see, did not deny such a possibility.
“Deliveries of old American weapons systems are quite possible. We will be open to discussing with them (Ukrainian military - approx.), studying their requirements and how we could satisfy them.
The question of deliveries of European fighters is not ruled out. Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown did not elaborate on exactly what types of aircraft could be transferred to Ukraine, but he said there are several options to consider, which include the Swedish Gripen, French Rafale and Eurofighter.
In general, the information is ambiguous. On the one hand, the US administration refused Poland, which was ready to provide its MiG-29s to Ukraine if the US supplied F-16s in return. Then the Pentagon said that "this proposal cannot be called sound."
And now - a demonstration of a change of course?
It turns out that yes. Literally ten days ago, members of the US House of Representatives (this is the lower house of the US Congress, an analogue of our State Duma) voted "yes" on a very remarkable issue.
Every year, the House of Representatives approves such an interesting thing as funding for the Defense Policy Bill, or the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the next (2023 in our case) fiscal year.
So, this year, funding for the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots was included in the project.
Now the draft is being finalized, and then it will go to the Senate for consideration and approval, and then it will go back to Congress for a final vote. And after that, to President Biden for signature, after which the project will become a financial law for next year.
It turns out interesting: both Kendall and Brown unanimously claim that they are not aware of the existing and approved plans to send American aircraft to Ukraine. However, a completely logical question arises: why then put money into the military budget for the training of Ukrainian pilots?
Let's reason, leaning on the Warthog's landing gear.
A-10 "Thunderbolt-2" or "Warthog".
It was produced from 1975 to 1984 in a series of 715 cars, including prototypes. That father-in-law, the “youngest” A-10s are cars that are 38 years old or more. But this, apparently, will be about attack aircraft, which are from 40 to 45 years old from among the 287 vehicles remaining in the US Air Force.
Of course, this is not a very long time for an aircraft, B-52s serve for 70 years, the whole question is how and with what loads. It's one thing to take off and fly a certain number of kilometers in level flight mode, drop bombs and lie down on the reverse course. The other is operations at the forefront, under air defense fire, with active maneuvering. The load on the airframe is somewhat different.
But - they will serve, here the question is only price and quality. The cost of one flight part of A-10 is more than 17 thousand US dollars.
In general, the plane is quite. Reservation of the cockpit and some units, double redundancy of structural elements and equipment, separation of engines and control wiring channels make it a very tenacious machine.
Cabin armor is generally considered the best in the world among aircraft. The cabin is made of rolled titanium armor with a thickness of 13 to 38 mm. On the inner surfaces of the armored cabin, an anti-fragmentation lining made of multilayer nylon fabric is installed.
Speed qualities for an attack aircraft are not so important, and therefore the normal speed of the A-10 is 722 km / h, which is more than enough. The combat radius is slightly less than 500 km, which is also sufficient for front line support operations.
Armament is a separate issue. The A-10 is in perfect order with it, the aircraft has a more than impressive set of weapons:
- 1 30-mm seven-barrel gun GAU-8 / A with 1350 rounds;
- 11 suspension points, 10 or less can be used at the same time. Combat load 7 257 kg.
The A-10's arsenal includes AIM-9 air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 air-to-surface missiles, LAU-61, LAU-68 LAU-10 unguided missiles. Free-fall high-explosive bombs weighing 227, 340, 908 kg, napalm bombs weighing 340 kg, cluster bombs 350 and 370 kg. Guided bombs GBU-8, GBU-10, GBU-12.
Will such planes be wanted in Ukraine? Of course yes. Considering how quickly the Ukrainian Su-25s are knocked out, the A-10 is quite an option for replacement. Although in the class of leading edge support aircraft there is not much to choose from, to be honest.
How likely is all this?
Quite. Obviously, somewhere within the US system, a decision was made to fight to the last Ukrainian. Unfortunately, it's really noticeable. Moreover, it is unrealistic to win this war, all these handouts to a few air defense and air defense systems, individually transmitted artillery systems - this is an extension of the agony, nothing more.
I already wrote on the topic that training a pilot is not quite the same as, for example, training a driver tank. And here it’s not just to train, to retrain for a completely different technique. Complexity, time, money. With time and money in the US, everything is in order. But in Ukraine...
But it is clear that the American course is changing. Apparently, the Biden administration is tired of resisting those who want to fight to the last Ukrainian. If earlier the US authorities expressed concerns that the supply of such weapons could lead to an escalation of the conflict and increase the risk of spread outside of Ukraine, now everything is being reviewed.
Today, HIMARS MLRS, equipped with high-precision projectiles, and in the near future NASAMS air defense systems are safely supplied to Ukraine. The potential supply of such systems to Ukrainian forces was considered unrealistic just a few months ago.
The same was true for aircraft. Yes, tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery and ammunition were collected in the barrels of the former socialist camp. Stocks stored since Soviet times have come to a natural end, which means that we must either drain Ukraine, or take the next step and throw new firewood into the fire of war.
And now, in 2023, trained pilots and 21 A-10 attack aircraft will be waiting in Ukraine, which will be decommissioned by the corresponding service of the US Air Force.
It turns out that this can be done painlessly for the Air Force, since the States are not going to fight on land in the near future. Well, that's good. The bad news is that others will do it for the US.
Of course, whether Ukraine will receive any A-10s or not remains to be seen. The fears of Air Force specialists about the vulnerability of the Warthog in conditions when it is necessary to use an attack aircraft against an army armed with top-class air defense systems are not unfounded. Russia really has at its disposal the most modern air defense systems, which have already proved their worth and professional suitability today. Possible losses of A-10, even if written off, are still losses of money.
So for now, Ukrainian pilots will get into the cockpits of their Su-25s, while the United States will think about how profitable and justified sending A-10s to Ukraine will be.
The complex of decisions will affect not only the training and adaptation of pilots, but also many other factors: maintenance, repair, professional suitability of Ukrainian technicians and engineers, gunsmiths. In addition, with what set of weapons the A-10 will be supplied and what should be removed from the aircraft before the transfer, in order to avoid these components being made available to Russian specialists.
The practice of supplying weapons to Ukraine has already shown that sooner or later, everything will end up either in Ukraine, which is pro-Russian, or directly in Russia itself.
In general, the appearance of the A-10 in the sky of Ukraine even causes some interest. It would be useful to know how this aircraft, which has been used in combat operations, would be useful in Ukraine.
The A-10 received its baptism of fire during the occupation of Grenada. Then there was the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, the war against Serbia, the A-10 fought in Afghanistan, the last operation was "freedom for Iraq", as a result of which Iraq, as a free state, ended.
The Warthog proved to be very, very good, but it is worth paying attention to the fact that apart from Iraq, which had at least some kind of sane air defense system, the rest of the countries were not equipped with modern air defense systems at least at the minimum level. And in Iraq, A-10s lost 7 aircraft shot down and 15 damaged. Of the damaged, some part was restored, and part went to the scrap.
The plane is interesting, the plane is efficient. How useful it can be in the skies of Ukraine can only be said when it will be used. It is quite possible that in the face of opposition from aviation and air defense of the Russian Armed Forces, the career of the decommissioned Warthogs will end very quickly. But even in this case, these aircraft will bring some benefits.
Firstly, they will prolong the agony of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and secondly, they will somewhat clean up the already littered with junk US air bases.
It remains only to wait for the implementation of US plans to train pilots and transfer aircraft to Ukraine. And here, perhaps, the main thing is that by that moment in 2023, when everything is ready, there remains the Ukraine that will want to fight with Russia further.
This, it seems to me, is a very important aspect.
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