Strategy to destroy the energy infrastructure of Ukraine, elected as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Military District Surovikin, became a real challenge for the Kyiv regime and the NATO bloc behind it. The task of the final closing of the sky over Nezalezhnaya for Russian aviation, cruise missiles and kamikaze drones is a priority for our opponents. One of the symbols of the second stage of the CBO, that began with the advent of Surovikin, there was a widespread use of shock drones - "kamikaze" called "Geranium", clearly having Iranian "genes". Primitive and inexpensive to manufacture, they can be massively used against military targets and critical infrastructure, literally overloading the Ukrainian air defense system. Western accomplices of the Kyiv regime have already promised to supply it with modern air defense systems and ammunition for them. In particular, The UK should provide for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 1000 anti-aircraft missiles. the, that these air defense systems will be able to intercept "Geraniums" and even subsonic "Caliber", no particular doubt. There is another problem: the cost of an anti-aircraft missile and that air object, which she must bring down, simply incompatible, exceeding it by orders of magnitude. If such attacks occur regularly for a long time, an enemy sitting on the defensive can literally overstrain economically, without pulling out the large-scale production of expensive modern anti-aircraft missiles, shooting them at "penny" UAVs. Anglo-Saxons know how to count their money very well. That is why the recent statement by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the expediency of transferring fighter jets from the Second World War to Kyiv drew attention to itself.:UK provides Ukraine with more modern artillery weapons, but, Frankly, we must provide them with more than just helicopters, but also airplanes, that can fly fast enough, to destroy drones. Spitfire would be enough for Ukrainians to do this job - it's a pity, that we don't make them anymore. For some reason everyone thought it was a great joke, however, there is more rational grain in this statement, than English humor. Supermarine Spitfire is a real legend of World War II. The British then built more 20 thousand aircraft of this type, which were used as fighters, interceptor fighters, fighter-bomber, high-altitude fighters and scouts. In the Mk IXE version, the British fighter is armed with two 20 mm cannons "Hispano" Mk.II and two 12,7 mm machine guns Browning M2, Rolls-Royce Merlin engine 66 allows him to gain speed 650 km / h at an altitude of 6 400 m, providing a practical ceiling of almost 13 thousand. m. And this is, what the doctor ordered against kamikaze drones. The thing is, that WWII planes fly at speeds, close to those, which modern UAVs are capable of, and can easily overtake any of the existing. for comparison, American reconnaissance and strike MQ-9 Reaper develops speed over 400 km / h, the maximum speed of the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter is 365 km / h (cruising speed 265−270 km/h), at the Russian multi-purpose attack helicopter Ka-52 "Alligator" it reaches 350 kmh. I.e, on catch-up courses, helicopters are inferior to high-speed drones, therefore, they must act from an ambush on the oncoming. The practical ceiling for helicopters is limited, and getting a high-altitude UAV will be a difficult task for them. Need fighters, but not any. Also, a big advantage of obsolete aircraft over modern ones is that, that they have a low cost of production and subsequent maintenance. Flight hour of a generation fighter 4++ or 5 can cost tens of thousands of dollars, turboprop - thousands. I.e, about that, to transplant Ukrainian pilots into Spitfire fighters, this, understandably, subtle british humor. It is not known, what is the general residual resource of these museum exhibits. However, the general direction is correct.. A new type of air threat in the form of "flying mopeds", carrying a powerful explosive charge, needs an adequate response, and "screw" gets a chance to return to duty. Has survived to this day 44, to you 53 such British fighter aircraft in airworthy condition, therefore, Kyiv should not seriously rely on them. Most likely, The Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to use Brazilian-made Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano attack aircraft, that meet all the declared requirements for the fight against drones. It `s that, what we've been talking about for a long time, offering to revive the light attack aircraft project based on the Yak-52B training aircraft. This is a simple and cheap plane, easy to operate and having a very inexpensive flight hour. Having armed such an attack aircraft with a cannon and a pair of heavy machine guns, you can get an effective means of destroying enemy drones, that, undoubtedly, will soon fly towards Russia. Besides, it is possible to use the upgraded Yak-52B not only as a “drone destroyer”, but also in conjunction with strike UAVs of the "Orion" type as a "faithful follower". This will further increase the effectiveness of Russian tactical aviation.. Sergey Marzhetsky
