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The Ukrainian Air Force Formed A New Strike Squadron—By Arming Reconnaissance Bombers With British Cruise Missiles
Forbes ^ | 5/28/2023 | David Axe

Posted on 05/29/2023 1:56:17 PM PDT by marcusmaximus

The Ukrainian air force has been ... busy. With a pre-war force of just 125 or so fighters and bombers, the Ukrainian air arm defended the sky over Kyiv during the heady early hours of Russia’s assault on the city in the spring of 2022 and then, after that assault collapsed, shifted its attention to the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.

In 15 months of hard fighting, the air force has lost at least half of its pre-war jet inventory—and scores of pilots. But amid this violence, one small community had been relatively idle: the section of the 7th Bomber Regiment that handles the service’s reconnaissance missions. The air space over the Ukraine battlefield has become too dangerous for manned recon flights.

Working closely with the United Kingdom, the Ukrainian air force has equipped at least some of the recon section—which flies two-seat, supersonic Sukhoi Su-24MRs from the regiment’s base in western Ukraine—with British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

-snip-

All the pre-war bombers and recon planes—as many as 16 of the former and nine of the latter—belonged to the 7th Bomber Regiment at Starokostiantyniv air base.

-snip-

When the U.K. government decided, back in February, that it would supply the Ukraine government with its first air-launched cruise missiles, the 7th Bomber Regiment’s Su-24s—specifically, the Su-24MRs—were obvious candidates for carrying the munitions.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: davidaxe; russia; sellthatwar; starokostiantyniv; stormshadow; su24; uk; ukraine; warpimp; wwiii
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To: marcusmaximus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-34


21 posted on 05/29/2023 3:08:50 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: jimwatx

The article does state that..”In 15 months of hard fighting, the air force has lost at least 1/2 of its pre-war jet inventory—and scores of pilots.

Furthr ading...”for the 7th Bomber Regiment, there were up to 47 ‘old’ Su-24 airframes in storage across Ukraine, many of them at the aircraft boneyard in Bila Tserkva near Kyiv.... Technicians have been fixing up these old jets in order to keep the 7th Bomber Regiment in the war.”


22 posted on 05/29/2023 3:10:52 PM PDT by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
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To: jimwatx

Thank you Vlad for your input.


23 posted on 05/29/2023 3:21:20 PM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: delta7
Interesting spreadsheet. It copies what the Russia MOD says.

If Ukraine has 18 HIMARS, and Russia claims 25 HIMARS destroyed, how much is the Russia MOD lying?

24 posted on 05/29/2023 3:23:24 PM PDT by Widget Jr (🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 Sláva Ukrayíni! 🇺🇦 ☭ No CCCP 2.0 ☭)
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To: webheart

That about sums it up.


25 posted on 05/29/2023 3:26:48 PM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: lodi90

Ok. You’re the most intelligent person on FR.


26 posted on 05/29/2023 3:27:20 PM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: BobL
What would be your recommendation when MILLIONS of Russian speakers were about to be Ethnically Cleansed and the United States and Brussels would not answer the phone? Perhaps stand by while a Genocide took place?

You forgot to mention the bayoneting of babies on church doors. Please stop with this Russian nonsense. There were never any plans for the ethnic cleansing of Russian speakers. In the meantime, how many Ukrainians have the Russians killed using this fiction as an excuse?

27 posted on 05/29/2023 3:28:24 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Ukraine needs to sue for peace now, before this war expands to kill hundreds of millions.

So, you are okay with the Russians killing hundreds of millions because of their paranoia?

28 posted on 05/29/2023 3:30:11 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: delta7

A reality check, for those few remaining freepers who still value reality when it comes to this war.

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/latest-headlines-digest-the-wests


29 posted on 05/29/2023 3:39:32 PM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Petrosius
So, you are okay with the Russians killing hundreds of millions because of their paranoia?

False assumption.

It will be WWIII, western nations attacking Russia and Russia attacking them. The war would expand to affect other nations directly - and open the door for China to stretch the US military across the world. Also NK.

I prefer peace to senseless death.

30 posted on 05/29/2023 3:43:22 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Hi Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
It will be WWIII, western nations attacking Russia and Russia attacking them.

No one is planning to attack Russia; they have nukes.

I prefer peace to senseless death.

So do I. That is why Russia needs to go home and end this tragedy. There was no reason this had to happen in the first place. It is Russian aggression — not NATO expansion, not alleged ethnic cleansing, not Nazi boogeymen, etc., etc. — that is driving this. Russia goes home and all can live in peace again.

31 posted on 05/29/2023 3:49:22 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: gibsonguy
This sounds like an act of desperation to me.

I don't see it that way.

If you threaten any nation, it will go to the next step.

My nation, the US would do the same.

Russia will be no different.

32 posted on 05/29/2023 3:50:42 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Hi Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: Petrosius
No one is planning to attack Russia; they have nukes.

I'm astounded you think that. The west will attack Russia, regardless of nukes.

That is why Russia needs to go home and end this tragedy.

Still silly and resolves only one side.

There was no reason this had to happen in the first place.

Agree. Little Z should have counted the cost and negotiated before it began. I think he was paid not to.

It is Russian aggression

War is always the last aggressive response when a nation cannot resolve things peacefully.

33 posted on 05/29/2023 3:53:34 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Hi Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
If you threaten any nation, it will go to the next step.

No one has been threatening Russia. If you have not noticed, it is Russia that has been doing the threatening, and the actual invasion.

34 posted on 05/29/2023 3:56:19 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: Petrosius
No one has been threatening Russia.

If you escalate using shadow cruise missiles, or F16s, Russia will take the next step. Only natural.

If you have not noticed, it is Russia that has been doing the threatening, and the actual invasion.

Only in the fevered Zeeper world, where even coins are so thin they only have one side.... so there's that.

35 posted on 05/29/2023 3:58:14 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Hi Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Little Z should have counted the cost and negotiated before it began. I think he was paid not to. "Little z was ordered not to negotiate by Victoria Nuland on orders from the Biden Crime Cartel and George Soros.
36 posted on 05/29/2023 3:58:48 PM PDT by sport
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
If you escalate using shadow cruise missiles, or F16s, Russia will take the next step.

It is interesting that you skip the first step: RUSSIA'S INVASION!

37 posted on 05/29/2023 4:01:03 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: Travis McGee

Simplicious is one of the absolute most accurate sites, he backs up what he states by video and pictures, something the Biden bootlickers MSM never do.

Good to see some have “ seeked out” the truth in this regional conflict. His coverage on the destroyed Patriot batteries was outstanding.


38 posted on 05/29/2023 4:07:24 PM PDT by delta7
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

“War is always the last aggressive response when a nation cannot resolve things peacefully.”

Or if that nation doesn’t WANT to “resolve things”.
Which was Russia’s position. Putin and Co. saw an opportunity with weak US leadership- Biden had recently signed off on Nordstream 2 and had just been humiliated in Afghanistan. NATO was moribund.

Russian goals were to force Ukraine into puppet status, as was its policy pre-2014. A Belorussia situation.


39 posted on 05/29/2023 4:12:28 PM PDT by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

There is no other side. Putin at this point just wants to hold on to the land he has grabbed. This is uncomplicated aggression.

It’s exactly like Stalin’s aggression vs the Baltics, Finland, Poland and Romania in 1939-1940, under cover of the German war. Opportunistic land-grabbing.

Stalin too had disingenuous propaganda to cover his schemes.


40 posted on 05/29/2023 4:17:46 PM PDT by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
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