Kubinka Passion
Translation of "STRYZHEY" and "Russian Knights" under Lipetsk can benefit our Air Force
Reports that the Ministry of Defense is going to sell a military airfield in Kubinka have generated a strong emotional surge in Russian electronic and print media, as well as on the Internet. The keynote of most comments is “continue to sell the sacred.”
For some reason, no one remembers the saying, "Having taken off your head, they do not cry through their hair." In the course of numerous continuous military reforms over the past two decades, we have sold so much of the “saint” that the airfield is larger, the airfield is smaller — in fact it is not very important. Even if the airfield in the whole country at the hearing. It should, by the way, be borne in mind that the sale of military facilities that have lost their previous purpose is absolutely commonplace in the United States and in other NATO countries and in China. There they are put up for auction by the hundreds, including airfields.
The main question is really different: will this “negotiation” harm the Fatherland? More precisely - whether it will weaken the air defense of Moscow?
Immediately I want to reassure the ignorant readers of the "military-industrial complex": the tasks of ensuring the air defense of the capital were never assigned to the base in Kubinka. In addition, only the 237th Display Center is currently deployed here. aviation technicians. Under this prosaic name are the world-famous aerobatic teams Swifts and Russian Knights (the first fly on the MiG-29, the second on the Su-27). Now they are supposed to be transferred to the 4th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel named after V.P. Chkalov, located near Lipetsk. This adds passion to the commentary, since the transfer of two symbols of national pride from the Moscow region “into the wilderness” is interpreted as their destruction, for it turns aces pilots into almost destitute people.
I would like to remind you that a military pilot, even if a super elite, is a state man. He should serve wherever the Motherland will direct him. In Kamchatka, in Transbaikalia, in the Arctic. And even more so - in a place not far from the Mother See, where there is no natural, political and economic extreme (the Lipetsk region is consistently included in a small number of Russian regions - donors of the federal budget). In addition, the 237 CCPT will not be in the “open field”, but in the garrison, whose personnel also belong to the elite of the Air Force, because all the planes coming into service with domestic combat aircraft pass through it and finally get a “ticket to the sky”. By the way, now it is near Lipetsk that all Su-34 we have are located. Accordingly, the lamentations about the bitter fate of the "Swifts" and "The Knights" seem somewhat exaggerated.
In addition, consideration should be given to the role and place of aerobatic teams in the Air Force.
There are similar groups in many countries of the world, up to Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, South Africa, Morocco. They are the “business cards” of not only national aviation, but also the country as a whole. Naturally, they include the best pilots who can demonstrate the wonders of not only the highest, but also the group aerobatics. And, interestingly, often - not at all on combat aircraft.
On heavy fighters only “Russian Knights” fly. On the lungs - “Swifts”, “Ukrainian Falcons” (on the same MiG-29), Thunderbirds (USAF, on F-16), Blue Angels (US Navy, on F / A-18), “1 August” ( Chinese Air Force, previously J-7, now J-10), Turkish Stars (F-5), Black Knigts (Singapore Air Force, F-16). Moreover, the planes of all these groups can only be considered conditionally combat: they are not armed, and sometimes pylons are removed for its suspension. Fighters are facilitated as much as possible, because they are not designed for combat, but for aerobatics.
The overwhelming majority (more than 40) of the aerobatic teams in the world are equipped with training machines. The French La Patrouille de France and the Portuguese Asas de Portugal have Alpha Jet airplanes. In Italian Freccie tricolori - MB-339. The Japanese "Blue Pulse" - T-4. The South African Silver falcons - PC-7. The English Red Arrows - "Hoki." And so on and so forth. All these air combat vehicles are not designed in principle and can be used as light attack aircraft, but not as fighters.
As for the unique maneuvers of our planes (“cobra”, “bell”, “hook”), they, as some practitioners believe, are useless in real combat, at best they are harmful, with their help air combat can not to win, but to lose with confidence. For example, a fighter who made a “cobra” turns into an immobile fixed target for the enemy, because he turns to him not with his nose, but with his belly. Even for a beginner, driving a rocket into this belly will not make up. On the other hand, it was impossible to fire the aircraft behind the back of the aircraft that executed this figure: it can only be in this position for a few seconds, the process of hijacking the target and launching missiles at it during this time is impossible. The main thing is that no one ever tried to perform all these miracles of pilotage with rockets suspended from a car. Indeed, in this case, the weight of the aircraft increases, all its aerodynamics changes (air resistance, machine centering, etc.). And then the "bells" and "cobras" will most likely be simply impossible.
We must not forget about one more important point: it is very difficult to assume that the cobra, the bells and the hooks will be able to train the combat pilots in large numbers (even if the annual flight time in the Russian Air Force reaches the North American or Western European level - 250-270 hours) .
Finally, modern long-range air-to-air missiles, stealth technology have significantly reduced the importance of maneuverability in air combat, it has begun to play a role, at best, auxiliary. Now much more important than the possibility weapons and onboard electronics. In the first place came the information factor. The pilot must be perfectly aware of the situation: the first to detect the enemy, unnoticed for the latter, and to use a weapon before (and it is very desirable that it was not necessary to do it again).
Further, the factor of aircraft armament is extremely important, especially long and medium range air-to-air missiles, with the help of which one can strike not simply from outside of visual visibility, but preferably before the enemy even realized that he was being attacked. And then comes the factor of maneuverability, it acts in the event that it came to melee, when the opponents see each other.
That is why flights of aerobatic teams are more likely to belong to aviation sport (or even art) than to combat training, to checking the characteristics of equipment. Certainly, the skill of the pilots is demonstrated to the maximum, but not the capabilities of the planes, since they find themselves in artificial conditions that have no relation to the real battle. “Bells” and “cobras”, passing “lozenges” are all for the show, but not for the fight.
So the translation of "Swifts" and "Russian Knights" into Lipetsk TsPPPLS can bring great benefits. It is unlikely that someone will prevent our "business cards" and continue to hone the techniques of displaying the most complex aerobatics. At the same time, they and Lipetsk pilots, with the correct formulation of work, can very well enrich each other with experience, increasing the overall level of combat training of fighter aircraft. It will become much clearer to what extent the art of aerobatic teams is useful in preparing for a real war. For what, in fact, intended the Air Force.
The most pressing question really is: where will the money go (apparently, a lot of money) received from the sale of Kubinka? Consequently, the Ministry of Defense should clearly report to fellow citizens: the funds have been spent on solving such and such problems of the defenders of the Motherland, in particular aviators. This is what should be worried about seriously, and not about the fact that national pride will turn out to be right in 320 km from Moscow.
For some reason, no one remembers the saying, "Having taken off your head, they do not cry through their hair." In the course of numerous continuous military reforms over the past two decades, we have sold so much of the “saint” that the airfield is larger, the airfield is smaller — in fact it is not very important. Even if the airfield in the whole country at the hearing. It should, by the way, be borne in mind that the sale of military facilities that have lost their previous purpose is absolutely commonplace in the United States and in other NATO countries and in China. There they are put up for auction by the hundreds, including airfields.
The main question is really different: will this “negotiation” harm the Fatherland? More precisely - whether it will weaken the air defense of Moscow?
Immediately I want to reassure the ignorant readers of the "military-industrial complex": the tasks of ensuring the air defense of the capital were never assigned to the base in Kubinka. In addition, only the 237th Display Center is currently deployed here. aviation technicians. Under this prosaic name are the world-famous aerobatic teams Swifts and Russian Knights (the first fly on the MiG-29, the second on the Su-27). Now they are supposed to be transferred to the 4th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel named after V.P. Chkalov, located near Lipetsk. This adds passion to the commentary, since the transfer of two symbols of national pride from the Moscow region “into the wilderness” is interpreted as their destruction, for it turns aces pilots into almost destitute people.
I would like to remind you that a military pilot, even if a super elite, is a state man. He should serve wherever the Motherland will direct him. In Kamchatka, in Transbaikalia, in the Arctic. And even more so - in a place not far from the Mother See, where there is no natural, political and economic extreme (the Lipetsk region is consistently included in a small number of Russian regions - donors of the federal budget). In addition, the 237 CCPT will not be in the “open field”, but in the garrison, whose personnel also belong to the elite of the Air Force, because all the planes coming into service with domestic combat aircraft pass through it and finally get a “ticket to the sky”. By the way, now it is near Lipetsk that all Su-34 we have are located. Accordingly, the lamentations about the bitter fate of the "Swifts" and "The Knights" seem somewhat exaggerated.
In addition, consideration should be given to the role and place of aerobatic teams in the Air Force.
There are similar groups in many countries of the world, up to Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, South Africa, Morocco. They are the “business cards” of not only national aviation, but also the country as a whole. Naturally, they include the best pilots who can demonstrate the wonders of not only the highest, but also the group aerobatics. And, interestingly, often - not at all on combat aircraft.
On heavy fighters only “Russian Knights” fly. On the lungs - “Swifts”, “Ukrainian Falcons” (on the same MiG-29), Thunderbirds (USAF, on F-16), Blue Angels (US Navy, on F / A-18), “1 August” ( Chinese Air Force, previously J-7, now J-10), Turkish Stars (F-5), Black Knigts (Singapore Air Force, F-16). Moreover, the planes of all these groups can only be considered conditionally combat: they are not armed, and sometimes pylons are removed for its suspension. Fighters are facilitated as much as possible, because they are not designed for combat, but for aerobatics.
The overwhelming majority (more than 40) of the aerobatic teams in the world are equipped with training machines. The French La Patrouille de France and the Portuguese Asas de Portugal have Alpha Jet airplanes. In Italian Freccie tricolori - MB-339. The Japanese "Blue Pulse" - T-4. The South African Silver falcons - PC-7. The English Red Arrows - "Hoki." And so on and so forth. All these air combat vehicles are not designed in principle and can be used as light attack aircraft, but not as fighters.
As for the unique maneuvers of our planes (“cobra”, “bell”, “hook”), they, as some practitioners believe, are useless in real combat, at best they are harmful, with their help air combat can not to win, but to lose with confidence. For example, a fighter who made a “cobra” turns into an immobile fixed target for the enemy, because he turns to him not with his nose, but with his belly. Even for a beginner, driving a rocket into this belly will not make up. On the other hand, it was impossible to fire the aircraft behind the back of the aircraft that executed this figure: it can only be in this position for a few seconds, the process of hijacking the target and launching missiles at it during this time is impossible. The main thing is that no one ever tried to perform all these miracles of pilotage with rockets suspended from a car. Indeed, in this case, the weight of the aircraft increases, all its aerodynamics changes (air resistance, machine centering, etc.). And then the "bells" and "cobras" will most likely be simply impossible.
We must not forget about one more important point: it is very difficult to assume that the cobra, the bells and the hooks will be able to train the combat pilots in large numbers (even if the annual flight time in the Russian Air Force reaches the North American or Western European level - 250-270 hours) .
Finally, modern long-range air-to-air missiles, stealth technology have significantly reduced the importance of maneuverability in air combat, it has begun to play a role, at best, auxiliary. Now much more important than the possibility weapons and onboard electronics. In the first place came the information factor. The pilot must be perfectly aware of the situation: the first to detect the enemy, unnoticed for the latter, and to use a weapon before (and it is very desirable that it was not necessary to do it again).
Further, the factor of aircraft armament is extremely important, especially long and medium range air-to-air missiles, with the help of which one can strike not simply from outside of visual visibility, but preferably before the enemy even realized that he was being attacked. And then comes the factor of maneuverability, it acts in the event that it came to melee, when the opponents see each other.
That is why flights of aerobatic teams are more likely to belong to aviation sport (or even art) than to combat training, to checking the characteristics of equipment. Certainly, the skill of the pilots is demonstrated to the maximum, but not the capabilities of the planes, since they find themselves in artificial conditions that have no relation to the real battle. “Bells” and “cobras”, passing “lozenges” are all for the show, but not for the fight.
So the translation of "Swifts" and "Russian Knights" into Lipetsk TsPPPLS can bring great benefits. It is unlikely that someone will prevent our "business cards" and continue to hone the techniques of displaying the most complex aerobatics. At the same time, they and Lipetsk pilots, with the correct formulation of work, can very well enrich each other with experience, increasing the overall level of combat training of fighter aircraft. It will become much clearer to what extent the art of aerobatic teams is useful in preparing for a real war. For what, in fact, intended the Air Force.
The most pressing question really is: where will the money go (apparently, a lot of money) received from the sale of Kubinka? Consequently, the Ministry of Defense should clearly report to fellow citizens: the funds have been spent on solving such and such problems of the defenders of the Motherland, in particular aviators. This is what should be worried about seriously, and not about the fact that national pride will turn out to be right in 320 km from Moscow.
Information