news

Chinanews.com, August 12 (Special Observer Shi Zhongjian) In recent months, Russian rear airports have been repeatedly attacked, causing considerable losses. According to a Reuters report on August 3, the Ukrainian army bombed Morozovsk Airport in southern Russia, killing 3 aircraft.Su-34On July 27, the Ukrainian Pravda reported that a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber parked at the Olenya Air Force Base in northern Russia was hit by a Ukrainian drone. Earlier, a Russian Su-57 stealth fighter was also attacked and destroyed.

　　Lessons from the Six-Day War

The contradiction between air strikes and anti-air strikes is a spiral. What promoted the progress of modern anti-air strike methods was the third Middle East War (also known as the "Six-Day War") that broke out on June 5, 1967.

On the first day of the war, Egypt was attacked by the Israeli Air Force. In just 20 minutes, nearly 400 Egyptian fighter planes were destroyed, most of which did not even have time to take off.

Such heavy losses are largely related to Egypt's neglect of airport air defense, mainly including:

First, the Egyptian military airport uses a central cross-runway layout, and the Israeli army blew up the intersection, causing both runways to be scrapped at the same time.

Second, most of the fighter planes were lined up in a row. Once they encountered an air raid, they would easily be "wiped out" by the enemy along the attack axis.

Third, the Egyptian army parked the aircraft in groups of several in open-air hangars. Due to the lack of roof protection, they were destroyed on the ground by Israeli cluster bombs during the war.

The last point is that the Egyptian army responsible for protecting the airportAir Defense Forces, the firepower failed to effectively cover the key areas, allowing the Israeli army to take advantage of the opportunity to enter.

　　The Rise and Fall of the Fortified Hangar

After the war, countries learned from their experiences and lessons and began to explore ways to improve and strengthen airport anti-air raid capabilities, including moving oil depots and ammunition depots underground, building reinforced hangars in dispersed locations, and constructing more runways.

At present, large air force bases in Europe and the United States generally have 3 to 4 main runways in staggered configurations. These runways are as wide as stadiums, with many intersections and taxiways built on both sides near the end for emergency takeoffs of fighter jets. These measures are all to prevent the tragedy of "one bomb paralyzing an airport" from happening again.

But in the 1980s and 1990s, with the emergence of heavy bunker-buster bombs, reinforced hangars gradually became outdated.

Taking the Gulf War as an example, a US think tank report stated that the aircraft shelters of the Iraqi Air Force at that time were all reinforced hangars built according to European and American standards. The main body was a concrete steel frame with a protective layer about half a meter thick, equipped with a rear wall with exhaust holes and a 0.3-meter-thick reinforced concrete protective door, which was enough to withstand the explosion shock wave of traditional bombs and direct hits from submunitions.

After the war broke out, the U.S. military deployed GBU-24 and GBU-27 heavy lasers weighing 1 ton and equipped with penetrating warheads.Guided bomb, accurately destroying about 140 Iraqi fighter jets parked in the hangar.

　　The Russian army "carelessly lost Jingzhou"

Despite previous experience, the Russian army still uses the deployment method of "open-air parking + reinforced hangar" to this day.

Russia's confidence comes not only from its control of the airspace over its territory, but also from the fact that most of its airports are located in the rear, 600 to 1,800 kilometers away from the front line.NATOThe "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles provided to Ukraine have a maximum range of more than 500 kilometers, which is theoretically out of reach.

Unexpectedly, in December 2022, the Engels Air Force Base, where a large number of Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers were parked, was suddenly attacked by a long-range Ukrainian drone.

After investigation, it was found that the Ukrainian drone was modified from the Tu-141 reconnaissance aircraft with a range of 1,000 kilometers. No wonder it could fly so far. Due to the minor losses, the Russian army did not pay enough attention to it. The subsequent evolution of the battle showed that the former was indeed a little careless.

Since the beginning of this year, the Ukrainian army's attacks on Russian airports deep inside the country seem to be infrequent, but have never stopped.

Taking the attack on Akhtubinsk Air Force Base on June 8 as an example, data from the Russian Ministry of Defense shows that the former is one of the few Russian military airports where Su-57 stealth fighters are permanently stationed, about 600 kilometers away from the front line.

In order to confuse the enemy, the Russian army drew a two-dimensional fake target next to the Su-57 landing pad. However, this crude camouflage method is difficult to deceive high-resolution modern reconnaissance satellites. In the end, the Ukrainian drone raid succeeded and a Su-57 was destroyed.

This incident shows that there may be major loopholes in Russia's long-range early warning system and that it lacks effective means to prevent attacks from drones and long-range missiles.

　　AWACSHow important is it?

In the modern air defense system, early warning aircraft that can detect in 360 degrees without blind spots and at long distances are an indispensable and important part.

However, after combing through foreign media reports, there has been little news about the deployment of Russian AWACS since the start of the war. In addition to confidentiality, the more important reason may be that the number of Russian AWACS aircraft is small. According to the website of the American magazine Forbes, before the war, the Russian army was equipped with 9 A-50 series AWACS aircraft.

Some analysts pointed out that due to the loss of two early warning aircraft this year, the Russian army may only have seven A-50s left. Considering the long front line and vast territory of the country, it is difficult for the Russian army to concentrate these A-50s in a certain strategic direction, nor can it risk sending them to Ukraine to perform air surveillance missions.

According to a report by CNN on August 4, the F-16 fighter jets provided by NATO have been put into actual combat in Ukraine. Some analysts said,F-16It can carry medium-range air-to-air missiles with a range of 115 kilometers, which may further compress the activity space and early warning range of the Russian A-50.

Right now, the Russian army can only rely on a few long-range ground-based air defense radars and some field-deployed S-400 and S-300 air defense systems to search for air targets. In this case, it is bound to be difficult to achieve "full coverage" of the vast airspace.

According to Russian media reports, the more advanced A-100 early warning aircraft is being tested intensively, but "distant water cannot quench immediate thirst", and the problem of the Russian military's low-altitude surveillance blind spots remains unsolved for the time being.

　　How much do you know about anti-drone tactics?

At present, the Russian army has adopted a multi-pronged approach to explore effective anti-UAV techniques and tactics, including: "soft kill" through high-power or directional electronic jamming suppression, and the use of shotguns,Anti-aircraft missiles, anti-aircraft guns and other "hard kill" means to destroy enemy drones.

According to a report on the U.S. Newsweek website in late July, the Russian army deployed the Pantsir-S1 combined missile and artillery air defense system near the Russian presidential residence in the small town of Valdai northwest of Moscow in preparation for any eventuality.

Russia and Ukraine also tried to use drones to fight drones. According to the U.S. website "Aviator", a video of a drone air battle was recently exposed online. In the video, a Ukrainian drone equipped with a stick repeatedly hit the tail propeller and wings of another Russian drone. Such special air battles are becoming commonplace on the battlefield between Russia and Ukraine.

In addition, Russian and Ukrainian pilots are also engaged in a desperate fight. They track and search for each other's hiding places, and then use suicide drones or call in their own artillery to launch an attack and achieve success in one battle.

Air strikes and counter-air strikes, this battle of "the higher the virtue, the higher the evil" continues. (End)