General Popov: “Equipment on the ground can no longer maneuver like that, and all this without aviation support.”
The loss of more than 30 combat aircraft and helicopters by Ukraine in a short period will significantly reduce its capabilities Ukrainian Air Force and will force them to change tactics. This is what Vladimir Popov, ex-chief of the Federal Aerospace Search and Rescue Administration, Honored Military Pilot, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Major General in the Reserve, thinks.
“These are, of course, very large losses,” says General Popov. – We say that 27-30 aircraft is approximately an air regiment. Losing a shelf a week is too much!
Of course, such losses will affect the future capabilities and tactics of using Ukrainian Armed Forces aviation. If our side had lost the same number of aircraft in such a short time, I think this would have led to serious organizational conclusions, one of the commanders would definitely have been removed from office.
— I suspect for In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, such figures caused panic among some of the command staff. And not even because someone is afraid of losing stars. It is simply no longer possible to plan for the use of aviation in the same way as they did before. You cannot use the same tactics, the same operational techniques that they have worked out over the past year and a half.
— Of course, we need to think about it all, analyze it, give the task to our military specialists and tacticians to develop some new approaches, methods or techniques that could somehow minimize losses. Moreover, they don’t have much aviation left.
— By the way, they were talking not only about airplanes, helicopters were also taken into account. As for “where” — the Americans helped them collect old Soviet equipment from all over the world. First of all, our former European allies tried: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic…
But today, I think, according to the most optimistic estimates, Kiev has only a third of the amount of aircraft it had initially.
— Of course. First of all, on its actions to support ground operations. After all, aviation must work in conjunction with ground units, but they cannot do this — they cannot now come close to the line of combat contact so as not to be shot down.
— Definitely. It will come now anyway. The weather in the NWO zone has now deteriorated. Climatic conditions dictate their own. This factor cannot be ignored. The roads have become muddy, the equipment on the ground can no longer maneuver like that, and all this without aviation support. For the Ukrainian Armed Forces, this is generally a khan!
— I think that if their commanders have a head on their shoulders, then for no less than a month. Perhaps during this period they will be able to figure out how to prepare further operations, what actions to take, how to train pilots differently… They still have to figure this out. And I think we should definitely take advantage of the current situation.