- Ukrainian pilots are using iPads for combat missions, according to the US deputy secretary.
- An iPad or similar tablet could aid in so-called “Wild Weasel” missions.
- This is an example of a Ukrainian weapon made from a combination of Western and Soviet parts.
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A video released by the Ukrainian Air Force appears to show a pilot using a tablet to carry out combat missions against Russian air defense systems.
This could be further evidence that the United States is working with Ukraine to help adapt Western technology to former Soviet weapons.
William LaPlante, the US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, told reporters at a briefing. washington dc conference Last week: “Think about the aircraft owned by Ukrainians. Not even F-16s, but Ukrainians own a lot of Russian and Soviet-era aircraft.”
He explained what will happen to Ukraine’s aging fighter jets. Bring in a lot of Western weapons and let the planes just keep going. “Essentially, the pilots are flying the iPads, and they’re still flying them in collisions, about a week after we received them,” he said. According to the Telegraph.
LaPlante did not provide further details.
He said iPads and similar tablets could aid in so-called “wild weasel” missions. The War Zone, defense publication.
This strategy involves jet pilots luring enemy air defenses and targeting them with radar. The radar waves are then traced back to their source and attacked by Ukrainian pilots with weapons such as the US-made AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM).
In the video, a jet pilot can be seen flying a Soviet-made Su-27 aircraft with an iPad or other tablet installed in the cockpit. According to the Telegraph, the pilot can be seen firing HARMS. The tablet also displays navigation maps and other flight information.
Business Insider could not independently verify when and where the video was shot or whether it recorded a combat mission or training.
Operation Su-27 Flanker Wild Weasel of the Ukrainian Air Force. Here, the U.S.-supplied AGM-88 HARM is seen conducting multiple low-altitude standoff attacks against Russian radars. pic.twitter.com/7CosjXFNkO
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 21, 2024
Because Ukraine’s Soviet-era fighter jets lack data interfaces that would ensure “seamless compatibility” with modern missiles, Warzone said the tablets would be “compatible with some Western-supplied air-to-ground weapons. “It is essential for its use.”
The publication said, “The cockpit tablet could provide a type of visualized radar warning receiver for Ukrainian fighter pilots conducting Wild Weasel missions.”
The U.S. Air Force developed the Wild Weasel strategy after the introduction of Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), which used radar to pinpoint targets, during the Vietnam War, in which aircraft equipped with anti-radiation missiles defeated North Vietnamese forces. Made it possible to detect and destroy. guided missile.
This is the latest example of a war that began with a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, with Ukrainian weapons stitching together Western and Soviet parts to create new systems.
This includes the air defense system FrankenSAM, which is currently in use on the front lines. In order to make the inventory of Soviet SAMs in Ukraine more efficient, their manufacture involves combining pieces of different machines, hence the name “Frankenstein”.