From 1999 to 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea, both of the world's poorest countries, fought a war of astonishing proportions, with nearly astronomical tanks, armored vehicles and aviation units thrown in around the town of Badme, and the casualties were as great as the reenactment of the Battle of Kursk in Africa. Because this war is far from the center of the world's power, the details are scarce, but do not forget that any war has its own unique value, especially the back of the two ethiopian and Eritrean armies, so the technical content of this war can not be ignored.
01
"Sunset" Battle
In 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (PFD) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (PFLP) joined forces to occupy the capital Addis Ababa and overthrow the central government of Mengistu. As a promise, the President of the FRETI and Prime Minister of the Government, Meles Zenawi, fulfilled his promise to FLN to confirm Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia by means of a referendum. In May 1993, the General Secretary of the FLN, Isayas Afewerki, was elected as the first President of Eritrea.
At first, based on the experience of the leaders fighting together, the relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea were good, but the good times were not long, and on November 28, 1997, Eritrea issued a new currency, the Nakfa, which was met with a fierce reaction from the Ethiopian side, and Ethiopia began to impose an economic boycott on Eritrea, resulting in inflation and food supply shortages in Eritrea. On 12 May 1998, Addis Ababa accused the Ermez of encroaching on its territory in the Badme area, while Asmara claimed that its own forces had merely recovered the land that had been seized by the Ethiopian army six months earlier. As a result of the intervention of the Organization of African Unity and the European Union, the conflict came to an abrupt end when the winter of 1998 came, especially as neither of the parties was fully prepared. However, both Ethiopia and Eritrea took advantage of the winter truce season to carry out fanatical arms expansion, and Ethiopia used the traditional friendship with Moscow in the past to spend $150 million to buy T-62 tanks and Su-27 fighters, with the help of Russian technicians to complete the assembly and deployment of the aircraft, while Eritrea bought second-hand T-55 tanks and MiG-29 fighters from Ukraine and received technical support from Ukraine. Because the equipment was far more difficult to operate than The Egyptian and Eritrean soldiers, the two governments had to hire some Russian and Ukrainian technicians.
In February 1999, the Negotiations on the Egyptian-Eritrean border were deadlocked because the Eritrean side was unwilling to accept the temporary demarcation line drawn by the OAU and the European Union for the two countries and refused to hand over the disputed area in Badamme, so the militarily superior Ethiopian side wanted to get what it did not get at the negotiating table and dispatched almost all fighter bombers of the air force to bomb The Eritrean targets indiscriminately.
At 6 a.m. on 23 February, after intensive artillery and aviation fire preparations, the Ethiopian Army launched a campaign code-named "Sunset" and launched an attack on the Eritrean Army from three areas. At noon, the Sheraro Line, built by the Eritrean army in the fan-shaped area of Badme, was divided by three armored units of Ethiopia, which was more than 100 kilometers long and scattered with a large number of trenches and permanent fire points. After a full day of bloody fighting, the Ethiopian army basically advanced to the vicinity of the temporary demarcation line, but could not continue to expand the results, because the rapid arrival of the Eritrea reserve prevented the collapse of the defensive line and limited the Ethiopian breakthrough to a local range, but the Eritrean reinforcements were also unable to relieve the trapped friendly forces, because they had lost thousands of people and suffered heavy losses under the devastating blows of the Ethiopian air force and artillery.
In order to demoralize the Eritrean army, the Ethiopian army not only dispatched the Modified An-12 "bomber" (formerly a transport aircraft) with the help of the Russians, repeatedly releasing a rain of bombs on the Eritrean positions under the bright moonlight, but also dispatched the newly purchased Ka-52 "Alligator" helicopter gunship newly purchased from Russia to clear the Armored Vehicles and Fire Points of the Eritrean Army. On the night of 24 February, the Eritreans claimed to have shot down a Ka-52, but the Ethiopian military did not confirm it, but they then dispatched several MiG-23BNs carrying cement-piercing bombs and overturning large runways at Assab airport, apparently in retaliation.
As the Ethiopian army continued to compress the Eritrean defenders in the encirclement, the desperate Eritrean President Isayas also threw his Republican Guard into the front line, and the balance of strength on the battlefield was once again tilted towards the Eritrean side. In order to prevent the breach of the siege, on 26 February, the Ethiopian MiG-21-2000 and MiG-23BN aircraft groups intensified their air attacks on the Halsheli center, The Assab airport and the desalination station, greatly damaging the logistics system of the Eritrean army to support the Bademe front. The High Command of the Eritrean Army, on the other hand, foresaw this situation and withdrew all anti-aircraft guns and 15 sets of field mobile surface-to-air missile systems from the above-mentioned areas in advance with a war-avoidance attitude, thus making the Ethiopian aircraft group even more fearless.
On 24 May, the Eritreans assembled four reinforced infantry brigades and launched a fierce attack along the left bank of the Meireb River on the western part of the Ethiopian encirclement, trying to open a gap. The fighting lasted for two days and nights, and the Eritreans did not get any bargains. According to neutral source sources, the Eritrean army lost more than 400 casualties and wounded another 1,500 in the fighting. Until mid-June, the Eritrean army did not give up its attempt to rescue its own people trapped in the "Bademe pocket". On the same day as 24 May, the Eritreans announced that they had shot down an Ethiopian Mi-35 helicopter. On 15 June, the Eritrean High Command issued an official announcement stating that "during the fighting from 10 to 14 June, the Eritrea army killed and wounded 18,000 Ethiopian officers and men, shot down four MiG-23s and a helicopter, and destroyed five tanks." Ethiopians completely denied this, and at the same time published the figures of the losses of the Eritrean army, saying that since May 1998, the total number of Dead, wounded and captured by the Eritrean army has reached 21,000.
02
Prepare for a showdown
Seeing that the brutal war had become so long, and the Ethiopian leaders, who were proud of their national strength, were also overwhelmed, the military command had to change its air raid tactics and ask the aviation corps to give priority to the long-range artillery of the Eritrean army, and then bomb the large material support center and weapons depot. As a result, wolf smoke was rampant in the Eritrean hinterland, and flames were raised in many places as high as more than 150 meters, which could be seen from 50 kilometers away. However, the Eritreans continued to deploy troops to the center of the war, massaging 16 brigades along the Meireb River, while the Ethiopian Army sent two additional divisions from the country with a total strength of 40,000 troops. On 25 and 27 June, after a near-meat grinder battle, the Eritreans, who had lost 6,000 men, actually abandoned the siege plan.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian fighter bombers continued to bomb the ports of Assab and Masawa, eritrean throats where overseas munitions were received. At a news conference, Eritrean President Isaias had to acknowledge the fact that the ports had suffered long-term air raids, but still insisted that most of the enemy bombs fell near the target and that the airstrikes did not cause fatal damage to the port facilities. However, when the reporter applied to go to some ports for an interview, he was rejected by the Eritrean side, on the grounds that he was responsible for the safety of the reporter before the end of the Ethiopian air raids.
After the rainy season in July 1999, both sides suspended military operations in favor of replenishing their forces, restoring morale and preparing for the decisive battle that followed. In terms of equipment, the Ethiopian army is in a hurry to expand its strength, although the number of newly purchased tanks they signed with foreign suppliers is enough to compensate for the losses on the battlefield, but because a number of Eritrean tank armored vehicles were also captured in the battle, the logistics system of the Ethiopian Air Force is about to collapse. Fortunately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were more partners for Ethiopians to choose from (mainly the CIS and Eastern European countries equipped with Soviet equipment). For example, in July 1999, Ethiopia bought a batch of second-hand T-55 tanks from Romania, before the tanks were shipped to Ethiopia, they had been modernized in the Bucharest factory in Romania, responsible for the upgrade of the Israeli company, this contract greatly improved the Ethiopian army's ground assault capabilities, in fact, even if this contract is not signed, the advantages of the Ethiopian army are very obvious, and the Eritreans can only deal with a large number of rocket launchers against tanks.
Looking at Eritrea, in order to replenish the crippled army, Eritrean President Isaias personally urged the military general adviser and former Russian military colonel Nefiodov to go to Moscow to collect goods. However, Nefiodov failed to get the president to do so, for the simple reason that the weapons sold by the Russian side were all the war materials of the Soviet army, which had to be regularly maintained and upgraded, and these weapons were in the process of transformation, and the Russian and Eritrean sides also needed to renegotiate the transformation situation and delivery date. Nefiodov was a seasoned arms broker, and in order not to waste the trip, he went to great lengths to finally bring back 4 Mi-17 military helicopters (fuselage short-wing can be hung to the rocket launch nest) to cross. He then rushed to Georgia and signed a contract with the local TAM aircraft factory for the purchase of eight Su-25 White-billed Crow strikers. Next, he rushed to Moldova and bought the only six surviving MiG-21s in Moldova with a large amount of us dollars, plus a complete set of related ground support equipment.
News of Eritrea's purchase of 8 White-billed Crows from Georgia soon spread to the Ethiopian Air Command, and the Ethiopian Air Force immediately signed a contract with Russia for the purchase of 6 Su-25TKs and 2 Su-25UBKs. In addition, Russia has provided Ethiopia with a batch of armored weapons and tanks worth $200 million, including 152 mm caliber 2S3 "Acacia" self-propelled guns, and at the same time, the Russian Arms and Technical Weapons Import and Export Corporation (restructured from the former Russian State General Directorate of Arms and Equipment Exports) has also begun negotiations with Ethiopia to establish a repair plant in Ethiopia, with the aim of repairing and upgrading miG-21 and MiG-23 in the local area, because most African countries are equipped with these two types of fighters.
03
"Left Hook Fist" assault
In the second half of 1999, under the good offices of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Ethiopian and Eritrea sides once again came to the negotiating table. By the spring of 2000, the two sides had agreed on most of the terms of the ceasefire agreement, but in the ensuing round of negotiations, the two sides went from April 29 to May 4, and the Eritrean side began to propose new conditions one by one, and Ethiopia quickly understood that the other side's diplomatic measures were only to hide their eyes and ears, and that they had to prepare for the coming Armageddon.
On May 12, 2000, the war broke out again, and the Ethiopian army took the lead in launching a "left hook fist" assault from the Eritrean defense line trapped in Badme, which suddenly confused the Eritrean army, who thought that the Ethiopian army would launch a main attack in the Zolen-Zalambesa area, because it was only a stone's throw away from the Eritre capital Asmara, and the main Ethiopian army had been gathered in that area for a long time, and the Eritre reconnaissance force had been watching the Every move of the Ethiopian army in the area. In the "Left Hook Fist" operation, the Ethiopian Army abandoned the 1999 artillery and aviation preparations as a prelude to the offensive, they did not use heavy equipment at all, and completely used the sneak attack of the roundabout force. On the eve of the attack, an Ethiopian force quietly infiltrated deep into the Eritrean positions, carrying only light recoilless guns, mortars and 23 mm anti-aircraft guns transported by mules to facilitate the march. On the morning of the 13th, the Ethiopian army launched a simultaneous attack from the front, flank and behind the enemy, quickly surrounded the first echelon of the Eritrean army, and cut off its communication channel with the second echelon, and in the following two days and nights, the Ethiopian army completely annihilated the besieged Eritrean army. According to the war report released by Addis Ababa, at the end of the night of the 12th, Ethiopian tanks entered strategic points such as Idikeham, Senafe and Zarambiez, and advanced 24 kilometers into Eritrea. At about the same moment, the representative of the President of Eritrea, Jermani Gublemeskelly, announced to the media that the Eritrean army had retaken all the occupied territories, but the defeated troops in the tide of waters tore his lies alive.
The Ethiopian army did not stop its offensive, and the remnants of the defeated Eritrean army were forced to retreat to the area west of Szlaro and Dukumbia, northwest of Barento, Medem and northeast of Alesa. Under the blows of Ethiopian tanks and aircraft, the retreating Eritrean army was completely disrupted. During this period, the Ethiopian army also used two Su-25TK strike aircraft for the first time, and the pilots had just returned from their further studies at the Lipetsk Flight Training Center in Russia, which was only the third time that the Su-25TK fleet around the world had participated in actual combat (the first two were in the Chechen War). The two Su-25TKs were upgraded by the 121st Aviation Maintenance Plant in Kubinka, Russia, and arrived in Addis Ababa in March 2000 by an An-22 and an I-76 transport aircraft, and before they were put into battle, these combat tasks were all undertaken by Ka-52 and Mi-35 helicopter gunships. Due to the limited strike capability of helicopters, the Ethiopian army once urgently changed the L-39Z "Albatross" advanced trainer aircraft purchased from the Czech Republic into a light strike aircraft, which can carry two UB-16 rocket launch nests and load a total of 32 S-5 unguided rockets with a caliber of 57 mm. In general, four Albatrosses form a formation, and after completing an ultra-low-altitude flight, they must return to the base to replenish ammunition. Due to the short and fast single flight time, this aircraft can complete 8 flights in one day! However, even if the "albatross" can withstand such a high load of flight, ethiopian pilots cannot withstand it, and the Ethiopian air force has few high-quality pilots. However, the Ethiopian Army can entrust some relatively simple close ground air support missions (CAS) to new cadets, and each person can fly no more than twice a day, so that the Ethiopian Army can continue to conduct air raids on Eritrean positions from morning to night. In fact, Russian military advisers conducted a tactical test here to confirm how effective a prolonged air attack would be on the enemy.
During the interrogation, a captured Eritrean officer said: "The bombing campaign by [your] helicopters and strikers was inhumane, and they strafed our evacuees from low altitudes, causing us very heavy damage, and I have seen two battalions blown up to less than one company. Many of the troops were distraught, and it took a lot of effort for the commanders to persuade them not to lay down their arms. For the vehicles, their fate was even worse, with many trucks and tanker trucks burning down after the helicopter's first round of blows. Without fuel and tractors, many guns and tanks were lost. Soon, there will be very few weapons left around us..."
The Ethiopian army did not leave a minute of respite for the enemy, and the ground forces quickly pursued from five directions, so that the enemy in the middle of the border was unable to establish a solid defensive position. On 17 May, the Ethiopian army reached Barontu, the largest political and administrative center in western Eritrea. On the same day, an Ethiopian Mi-35 helicopter was wounded and barely returned to the Ethiopian-controlled area for a forced landing, while another Ethiopian Su-25UB strike aircraft was not so lucky, when it was shot down by the 57 mm anti-aircraft gun installed by the Eritrean T-55 tank chassis while on a reconnaissance mission.
It is worth mentioning that during the battle that broke out in May, the Ethiopian army dispatched two Ka-50 helicopter gunships on the Barentu front, which arrived at Debryzeit Air Base in Ethiopia from the Arsenyev "Progressive" Aviation Complex in the Russian Far East just before the start of the war, in order to test their performance in a real combat environment. The Italian magazine Analisi Difesa, which had been following the war, also determined that the two Ka-50s, nicknamed the Black Shark, were piloted entirely by the Russians, initially using only unguided weapons and artillery against The Eritrean motorized troops and transport columns, followed by missiles that attacked tanks and mobile air defense systems. As the Russian media began to pay attention to the Ka-50's participation in the war in Chechnya at this time, people no longer paid attention to their travel to far East Africa to participate in the war. In fact, any kind of weapon is unlikely to mature if it has not been tested in actual combat, and in the process of the two Ka-50s in just seven days of "left hook fist" participation, Russian designers have obtained a large amount of data, the number and value of which is far higher than the data they obtained in months or even years on the shooting range. Therefore, from the perspective of weapons research and development, the frequent local wars in the world, even the wars of the poor with the lowest technology, are by no means "bad things"
The Battle of the Left Hook Fist lasted until 17 May, when the Ethiopian Army destroyed about 8 divisions of the Eritrean Army and inflicted heavy damage on 7 others, wiping out 50% of its strength and equipment. According to the June 2000 issue of the Italian magazine "Defense Analysis", many senior Russian military command experts participated in the "left fist" offensive planned by Ethiopia, in addition to the above-mentioned General Yanakov, there were also Major General Dimitri Mihajlovich Yefimenko, adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Ethiopian Air Force (before going to Ethiopia, he was the commander of the Russian Bombing Aviation Division), Ivan Pavlovich Frolov, adviser to the chief of staff of the Air Force (commander of the Russian Fighter Aviation Division before going to Ethiopia), and Yevgeni Yevgeni, adviser to the commander of the Air Defense Force. Petrovich Oberhof (promoted to Chief of Operations of the Russian 16th Aviation Army upon his return). On 26 May 2000, Eritrea's Ambassador to Russia, Nayizji Kevniu Bata, for the first time, published a list of 76 Russian military experts who assisted Ethiopia. There is no doubt that these people played a non-negligible role in the War between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
04
Eliminate the "Cube"
In order to curb the activities of the Ethiopian Air Force, on May 19, the Eritrean army for the first time dropped Soviet-made 2K12 "Cubic" surface-to-air missiles (i.e., anti-aircraft weapons that severely damaged the Israeli Air Force during the 1973 Yom Kippur War), which were urgently airlifted from Ukraine by Il-76 transport aircraft. The first "Cubic" missile company was deployed near the Sabdrat Recruit Training Camp in Eritrea, and the company was also responsible for the defense of a nearby airfield, where The Eritrean Su-25s often took off and landed. Eritreans have tightly camouflaged the missile positions, but they have not escaped the eyes of the two high-altitude reconnaissance Su-27 aircraft, which are equipped with advanced radar signal spectrum analysis equipment that can quickly identify radar types and coordinate positioning.
Realistically speaking, the emergence of the "cube" was by no means a good thing for the Ethiopian command and Russian experts who were immersed in the joy of an unprecedented victory. They immediately ordered two Su-27s to fly along the front line, while asking radio reconnaissance forces to search for Eritrean air defense radars in a targeted manner. Soon, through intelligence analysis from various parties, the Ethiopian army determined that the Ethiopian army had deployed only one "Cubic" missile company in Sebdrat. There is no doubt that its appearance will not have a real impact on the air situation on the front line, nor will it save the Eritrean army from losing and retreating on the battlefield. However, the emergence of surface-to-air missiles will still cause a lot of trouble for Ethiopian fighters, so the Ethiopian Air Force decided to eliminate them immediately.
The task of eliminating the "Cube" was entrusted to the "White-billed Crows" (Su-25), the attack formation consisted of two Su-25TKs, each aircraft carried two heavy anti-tank bombs, two Kh-25MP anti-radiation missiles, two Kh-29T television-guided missiles, and in order to prevent interception by Eritrean fighters in the air, the two Su-25TKs were also equipped with several R-73 air-to-air missiles. In order to increase the confidence of the "White-billed Crows", the Ethiopian Air Force sent four Su-27 escorts to them, and the Su-27, which has experienced recent air battles, has become famous and enjoys the reputation of "MiG-killer". According to the tactical arrangement, two Su-27s were ambushed on the flanks of the Su-25TK formation, and the other two were located over the rear of the Su-25TK formation, ready to deal with possible enemy aircraft.
After careful planning, the attack formation set off. Soon, the Su-25TK spotted the target, and the Eritrean missile radar system also spotted the invading Ethiopian fleet. Spears and shields began a life-and-death duel, the Ethiopian army did not give the clumsy Eritrean air defenses a chance, two Su-25TKs opened fire from 30 kilometers away, and in an instant the 1S11 reconnaissance radar of the Eritrean surface-to-air missile system was hit by two Ethiopian Kh-25MP missiles, and two missiles hit the Eritrea 1S91 target search and guidance radar. Subsequently, the Kh-29T missile began to strike at the enemy's 2P25 surface-to-air missile launcher, and the lost ear-to-air missile could only sit still, and the two missile launchers were completely destroyed, and the other was seriously damaged. After half an hour of continued reconnaissance, after determining that the Eritrean surface-to-air missile company had been completely wiped out, the Su-27 and Su-25TK continued to "fight the rabbits in the grass" and once again carried out unscrupulous bombing of the Sabdrat recruit training camp.
The next day, the tragedy of the Eritrean army was repeated, and the second "Cube" surface-to-air missile company they had just deployed in Mendelphira was also discovered by the Ethiopian army. In order to give full play to the role of surface-to-air missiles, Ukrainian advisers came to the company for maneuvering guidance, and with their help, the missile company's 1S91 radar quickly detected the Combined Su-25TK and Su-27 fleets of the Ethiopian Air Force. Although the Eritreans immediately activated the electronic jamming system and fired two missiles at the Ethiopian aircraft group, the Kh-25MP anti-radiation missiles fired by the two Ethiopian Air Force Su-25TK strikers destroyed them. It was later learned that one of the "Cube" missiles fired by the Eritrean army destroyed itself without hitting the target, and the other exploded next to a Su-25TK, but the Ethiopian pilot calmly drove the injured plane home with super psychological qualities. In this air-to-ground confrontation, the four Kh-25MP anti-radiation missiles launched by the Ethiopian Air Force all hit the target, two Kh-29T missiles launched by a Su-25TK destroyed a 2P25 missile launcher of the Eritrean army, and four 500 kg blast bombs projected by the Su-27 blew up one of the Eritrean missile launchers and injured one, and several 2T7 transport refueling vehicles of the Eritrean army were also severely damaged. Since the 1S91 target search and guidance radar was completely destroyed, the two missile launchers damaged by the Eritrean army were later repaired and resembled a pile of scrap iron.
2022