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Author: Yi Pin Wen team big buffalo, welcome to forward
Recent hot spots have focused on the news of the war between Russia and Ukraine. As the war progressed, many dynamics were exposed little by little. On February 28, the Russian Defense Ministry suddenly issued a message claiming to have air supremacy over all of Ukraine. The Ukrainian side has not replied to the news.
But there have been chaotic messages from the Ukrainian side, first inventing a so-called "Kiev ghost" trump card. The ace fighter model is the MiG-29, and he shot down six Russian fighters, including the MiG-29, Su-27 and Su-25, in one day, and jumped to become the famous Ukrainian ace in one day. Afterwards, the so-called Kiev specter was self-defeating: it was a game screen made up by a young man with game software and turned into a news media screen.
(The Air Force colonel shot down by his own family and the so-called fake "Kiev ghost", the Ukrainian Air Force is basically negative news)
On February 24, as soon as the war broke out, pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine announced the shooting down of two Ukrainian Su-24 attack aircraft. The news was later officially acknowledged by Ukrainians as the wreckage fell into enemy hands. On February 25, Ukrainian officials acknowledged that there was a "oolong ball" incident over Kiev in the early hours of the same day. Because in the early morning of local time, a Su-27 fighter of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down by the air defense systems of local friendly forces. Even on the morning of February 24, a heavily armed Su-27 fighter full of ammunition flew into Romanian territory for "technical reasons" until March 1, when Romania invoked international law to disarm the Su-27 fighter and sent it back to Ukraine under the surveillance of two MiG-21s.
The negative news is only about manned airplanes. In terms of drone use, it is not very optimistic. Why? Because the drones used by the Ukrainians are still purchased, the number is very small. One of the models is interesting: it was produced in China, procured by both the East Ukrainian militia on the Russian side and the Ukrainian government army before the war, and is now used in the war. This drone is an EVO drone produced in Shenzhen, the appearance color is orange, and the stealth function is not considered. The drone is intelligent and equipped with 12 computer vision sensors that can detect potentially threatening targets within 30 meters. The computer can also control the speed to avoid collisions with other flying objects; it can recognize 64 targets, have an image resolution of up to 20 megapixels, and can also distinguish thermal imaging modes. The Ukrainians mainly used the aircraft for artillery correction or small tactical attacks and infantry reconnaissance. Drones can monitor the situation on the battlefield to avoid soldiers being harmed by each other. The Eastern Ukrainian militia on the other side is using the same drone to do the same thing. It's just that the Ukrainians are in a more awkward situation: they only have 6 Chinese-made drones, and they are still purchased through crowdfunding donations from the domestic public, and they plan to buy 6 more before the war.
(Our domestic drone displayed by the Ukrainian army, in fact, it is used by pro-Russian militias and both Ukrainians)
Whether it is various deserters, shot downs or raising money to buy drones, etc., negative media news reflects an objective fact: the Ukrainian Air Force is no longer combat effective. But that's not the way it was from the start.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine, as one of the main successors, took away a considerable portion of its air assets. It was divided into MiG-29, Su-27, Su-25 and even 0 strategic bombers TU22 and TU160. The number of MiG-29 fighters alone is as high as more than 200, and it also has the ability to overhaul and upgrade Su-27 fighters. But what does it do? One sentence can be summed up: sit and eat the mountain and eat the air, and be tempted and deceived. For example, the strategic bomber Tu 160 was taken away by Russia, and the rest were dismantled under the lure of the United States. Because the Yankees don't want these weapons with nuclear weapons projection capabilities to be left out of control. The Navy originally had an aircraft carrier using the Ulyanovsk, but the Ukrainian president at the time was in desperate need of money. The U.S. government deliberately disguised itself as a leather bag company and said that it wanted to buy the scrap steel of the aircraft carrier, and the Ukrainian government believed it to be true and hurriedly dismantled the aircraft carrier. Afterwards, the Yankees found an excuse not to pay a penny, and Ukraine lost a capital ship of naval aviation in vain.
(Figure 160, which was deceived by the United States, is known to many as a ruse.) But still dismantled it)
On the other hand, the Ukrainian government was tight on funds at the beginning of its establishment. It believed that the end of the Cold War did not require the maintenance of a large number of troops, and the national strength could not maintain such a large army. So I sold everything that could be sold, for example, in the 2010 statistics, there were only more than 160 aircraft left. And these also have moisture, because many aircraft have an empty shelf left after they reach the end of their service life. The loss of talent is also serious, because the salary cannot be paid. Many people make a living for themselves in order to eat, such as some people who ran to Africa to fight in the war in Ethiopia. There, some officers flew MiG-29s into air combat and lived the life of a blood-soaked mercenary. Other pilots retired to work for civil aviation companies, at least where they had a stable job to feed their families.
(The very advanced livery of the digital camouflage MiG-29.) However, it revealed a shortcoming: it still inherited the legacy of the Soviet Union. Decades on, equipment has not been updated)
The inventory of aircraft can also be sold as long as it can be sold, because the country is poor and needs money. The sale of miG-29s to Algeria began in 2000 and 14 to Azerbaijan in 2007. The Su-27 also took some to sell to Africans, and even sold two Su-27 fighter jets to the U.S. government. In 2008, the Ukrainian female prime minister forcibly retired more than 60 MiG-29s. Selling these combat aircraft has been lying at home eating old money: in the short term, they have received much-needed funds, but they have not used the money to develop and buy new equipment. Until now, the Ukrainian Air Force has been equipped with the tatters inherited from the Soviet era. Corruption in military procurement has become rife: The lviv aircraft repair shop has purchased a batch of screws from $50 to $4,000, and this behavior has become a tool for some government personnel to get rich.
These problems finally erupted during the Crimean crisis of 2014. At that time, Russia captured at least 40 MiG-29 fighters. At least 20 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters were lost after the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Because Ukraine lacks sufficient fuel for training, the level of combat has declined. Seeing this, you can understand why in this war, there was some negative news first and then the government denied it. A few days later, the Ukrainian government acknowledged the fact that the air force had lost. Because, they all reveal the fact that the Ukrainian Air Force is left with only an empty shell! If you have any interesting insights, please feel free to leave a message below to discuss! References "Ukrainian Air Force" (this article is Uncle Yi said the world series, interested friends, please use WeChat to search for the public number: The Situation Emperor, watch all the original articles of the Yi Uncle Said World series)