Ukrainian Luftwaffe. Broken wings
A few days after the start of a special military operation on February 24, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian air defense was suppressed and Russian aviation gained air supremacy. On April 1, 2022, the Kremlin, through the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, stated: “Air superiority during the operation is an absolute fact.” By that time, according to official reports, Ukrainian aviation was destroyed. Mostly on the ground, the rest of the combat aircraft were shot down in air battles, by Russian air defense, or died from “friendly fire.”
Almost two years of SVO have passed and what do we see?
According to official data, enemy losses at the beginning of December 2023 reached simply astronomical values: 550 aircraft and 257 helicopters. That is, several times more than Bandera’s Ukraine had before the start of the Northern Military District. But enemy aircraft continue to harass Russian troops both on the front line and in the near rear.
It was also not possible to destroy the Ukrainian air defense, which is why Russian planes are forced to operate only in the front line, without striking the enemy’s rear (for this, other means of destruction are used).
So what's the deal? When will Ukrainian combat aviation end? Why has the enemy's air defense system not been suppressed yet?
Let's understand ...
Condition and strength of the Ukrainian Air Force before the start of the ATO
The “Russian Spring” and the outbreak of hostilities in the Donbass in the spring of 2014 caught the Ukrainian Air Force, which had degraded during the years of “independence,” by surprise. Having inherited 2 aircraft from the USSR, the independents in the next quarter of a century partly sold and partly wrote off this rich inheritance.
As a result, by 2013, the strength of the Ukrainian Air Force was reduced several times - to 600 units. On paper this seemed an impressive number, but in reality no more than 50–70 planes and helicopters could take off. In addition, they are all hopelessly outdated, because not a single truly new aircraft or helicopter has been delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force since 1991. The level of training of pilots has also fallen catastrophically.
All these problems immediately affected the punitive anti-terrorist operation against the rebel Donbass: a small number of combat sorties, the deliberate destruction of the civilian population of Donbass by Ukrainian-fascist pilots, the impossibility of night sorties. That is, in general, Ukrainian aviation showed itself to be poorly trained and unable to either isolate the combat area or inflict serious losses on the Russian militia.
At the same time, during the 2014 campaign, the Ukrainian Air Force suffered quite serious losses for its numbers. Russian fighters managed to shoot down almost all types of enemy aircraft: Su-25 attack aircraft, An-30, Il-76, An-26 military transport aircraft, Su-24 bombers, MiG-29 fighters, as well as Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters .
Enemy measures to restore the potential of the Air Force in 2015–2021
Taking advantage of the Minsk agreements and the calm that ensued on the Eastern Front in the spring of 2015, Ukrainian nationalists began to restore the combat potential of their Air Force.
In the summer of 2016, during a speech at the Kharkov Air Force University, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko directly stated that Ukraine needs a powerful Air Force that would be able to repel an attack by any enemy:
“Our military aviation, in terms of its purpose, firepower and combat range, should become the force that, together with other components of defense, will ensure the containment of the ambitions of the Russian Federation, which will be able to deliver an adequate blow in response to any aggressor.”
Realizing the inevitability of a full-scale war with Russia, Bandera's supporters began the process of restoring and modernizing both existing and abandoned Soviet air bases and airfields. The most energetic activity is in Western Ukraine and along the perimeter of the borders with Crimea.
It is worth noting that all Ukrainian airfields were built in Soviet times and were designed to operate in combat conditions. For example, the airfield in Starokonstantinov (home of the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade) had many concrete arched shelters to protect aircraft from enemy attacks! Thanks to these shelters, as well as the modernization carried out according to NATO standards, this airfield continues to function successfully at the time of writing this article. No “Caliber” turned out to be scary for him.
Great attention was paid to restoring the air defense system.
After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine received a rich inheritance of the S-75, S-125, S-200, S-300 and Buk anti-aircraft missile systems. Throughout the years of “independence”, most of these complexes, due to the lack of quality maintenance and repairs, were gradually removed from service and transferred to storage bases.
As a result, by 2013, only 60 S-200, S-300 and Buk-M1 divisions remained on combat duty. Their technical condition was so depressing that even the captured S-300s that the Russian army received in Crimea were never put into service.
Since Ukraine did not have the money to purchase modern air defense systems from NATO countries, it had to rake out all the Soviet reserves remaining in warehouses and storage bases. The S-125 anti-aircraft missile system (upgraded to the Pechora-2D level) was again put into service. The equally morally and physically obsolete Kub, Tor and S-300 air defense systems of the first modifications were removed from storage, restored and transferred to the air defense.
By 2022, the Ukrainian air defense already included about 250 S-300 launchers, more than 70 Bukovs, a couple of dozen S-125s, as well as about a hundred each of the Osa and Tor air defense systems removed from storage, 70 Tunguska air defense systems ", 150 Strela-10 air defense systems and about a hundred Shilka self-propelled guns. Work was underway to return the S-200 systems to service, but in the end the Ukrainians preferred to use them to strike ground targets.
Thus, after 2014, Ukrainian air defense experienced a rebirth, where Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile systems and radar stations began to be combined with modern control systems of NATO countries.
As a result, after the start of the air defense, Ukrainian air defense became a serious obstacle to the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces and remains so to this day.
At the same time, in the period 2015–2021. Fighters, bombers, attack aircraft, and military transport aircraft were removed from storage and restored, which, in addition to new navigation and communications equipment, received a characteristic “pixel” coloring. This became possible due to the fact that the Ukrainian aviation industry (like the Russian one) managed to survive during the years of “independence” by fulfilling export orders. Repair and modernization of airplanes and helicopters took place at enterprises in Odessa, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Lvov, Nikolaev, Konotop.
Russia played a significant role in the revival of the Ukrainian Air Force. Let us remind the reader that by the time of the victory of the “Russian Spring” of 2014 in Crimea, there were 80 Ukrainian aircraft and 36 helicopters left there. Playing at nobility and hoping for a quick reconciliation with the enemy, Russia voluntarily returned most of the lost weapons, including the aircraft fleet, to the Kyiv junta.
The transfer of equipment continued until July 5, 2014, when Kyiv, on its own initiative, broke off military-technical cooperation with Moscow. Only a few of the “fresh” MiG-29 fighters and combat training aircraft remain in Crimea.
The Ukrainian Air Force has made serious efforts to restore its helicopter fleet. After significant losses in the first year of the ATO, by the spring of 2015 there were only 30 serviceable Mi-8s and about 35 Mi-24s in service. In this regard, replenishing the helicopter fleet has become a pressing problem in Ukraine. From Soviet times, many old hulls and engines remained in the country, but there was no helicopter building school, there were no necessary electronics, rotor blades, or guidance systems.
As a result, the maximum that was possible to do was to modernize several Mi-2s at Motor Sich and, thanks to smuggled supplies of spare parts, increase the number of Mi-8s to approximately 80 serviceable aircraft.
As for the Mi-24, without Russian spare parts, their massive overhaul turned out to be impossible. The modernization program jointly with the French was curtailed with scandal due to the fault of the Ukrainian side. As a result, the number of Mi-24s remained at the same level, and their use both before and after the start of the SVO was extremely limited.
In 2018, Ukraine entered into a contract for the purchase of 55 used French helicopters for the police, National Guard, rescuers and border guards. The conclusion of the agreement cost Kyiv 551 million euros, but they agreed to pay most of it using a French loan of 475 million. As a result, Kyiv began to receive foreign helicopters, paying almost nothing for them.
Thanks to these measures, during 2015–2021. Ukraine managed not only to restore its Air Force, but also to increase its combat potential. The number of serviceable combat aircraft and helicopters has increased several times compared to pre-war 2013. A partial modernization of weapons was carried out - guided Soviet air-to-air missiles.
The level of pilot training has also increased. To train new pilots, the Ukrainian Air Force used L-39 combat training aircraft and An-26 military transport aircraft left over from Soviet times, for which fuel was allocated by the river. During the “Heavenly Shield 2016” exercise, the crews of the MiG-29 and Su-24 successfully practiced landing on convenient sections of highways, designed to replace bombed airfields in wartime. At the same time, Ukrainian special forces trained in techniques for evacuating the crews of airplanes and helicopters shot down behind enemy lines.
A US Air Force B-52H escorted by two Ukrainian Su-27s during the Bomber Task Force Europe 2020 mission
However, despite the measures taken, the Bandera Luftwaffe was never able to reach the level of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which during this period received hundreds of new and modernized combat aircraft Su-35, Su-34, Su-30, MiG-35, as well as Ka-52 helicopters. 28 and Mi-XNUMX.
The degradation of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and problems with financing led to the fact that there was no money to buy American F-16 fighters, and the cheapest (not major) repairs and modernization were always carried out for outdated planes and helicopters. The result was a high accident rate, which led to the loss of several fighters, attack aircraft, combat training aircraft and helicopters.
The apotheosis was the death in 2020 of the An-26 military transport carrying cadets from the Kharkov Air Force University, in which 26 people died at once. In all cases, the cause of the disasters was the failure of worn-out equipment to the limit.
The Ukrainian Air Force also experienced serious problems with personnel.
Most of the pilots and air base maintenance personnel were oppressed by low salaries, paperwork prevailing in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the impossibility of serious modernization of old Soviet aircraft, the lack of training and retraining programs, as well as the lack of any career prospects and constant conflicts with the command, which created unbearable conditions of service.
All this resulted in regular throwing of reports on the table and a massive outflow of personnel. Only in the period 2019–2020. More than 70 pilots left the Ukrainian Air Force and tried to get a job in other law enforcement agencies or the civilian sector, where the salary was higher. Many were looking for work in the West.
As a result, according to the rating of the American portal We Are The Mighty, by the beginning of 2022, the Ukrainian Air Force entered the top ten worst air forces in the world due to “extremely outdated equipment and extremely poorly trained flight personnel.”
When Ukraine pompously celebrated the 2021th anniversary of its “independence” in August 30, six combat aircraft equipped with systems for generating smoke in the colors of the national flag flew over Kiev. Technical preparations for this “important flight” took almost six months, but the Ukrainian Air Force was able to field only four properly equipped MiG-29 fighters. Great Britain came to the rescue, providing Kyiv with the missing pair of Eurofighter Typhoon fighters.
Condition and strength of the Ukrainian Air Force at the beginning of the Northern Military District
By summing up the data from foreign and Russian sources, it is possible to determine the approximate strength of the Ukrainian Luftwaffe at the start of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Su-27 heavy fighters – 34 units. (39th and 831st brigades).
Light fighters MiG-29 – 37 units. (40th, 114th and 204th brigades).
Su-25 attack aircraft - 31 units. (299th brigade).
Su-24M bombers – 14 units. (7th Brigade, 1st Squadron).
Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft – 9 units. (7th Brigade, 2nd Squadron).
Combat training L-39 “Albatross” – 30 units. (distributed among brigades to maintain pilots’ flying skills).
Military transport aviation in the amount of approximately 55 serviceable units was concentrated in three brigades:
15th Transport Aviation Brigade: An-24, An-26, An-30 and Mi-8 helicopters;
25th Transport Aviation Brigade: Il-76 and An-26;
456th Transport Aviation Brigade: An-26 and Mi-8 helicopters.
An-26 Ukrainian Air Force
The number of serviceable helicopters was at least 132 units: 79 military transport Mi-8, 35 attack Mi-24, 3 multi-purpose Mi-2 and 6 foreign-made helicopters (11th, 12th, 16th and 18th brigades army aviation). The Ukrainian Navy had 9 more serviceable helicopters at its disposal: four Ka-27, one Ka-226 and four Mi-14.
In total, at the beginning of the Northern Military District we get 155 combat and 55 military transport aircraft, as well as 132 helicopters. The numbers may vary slightly, since part of this fleet may have been under repair or modernization at the time of the outbreak of full-scale hostilities.
In any case, these figures are close to the data of the Russian General Staff, which estimated the total strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force at 152 units. It is also worth noting that, in addition to the active aircraft, the storage bases contained up to 200 bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft and fighters. After the start of the SVO on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainians managed to return a small part of this aircraft fleet to service, and used the rest as donors of spare parts.
In the second part of the article we will look at the actions and losses of Ukrainian aviation after the start of the SVO.
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