The Ukrainian Air Force Formed A New Strike Squadron—By Arming Reconnaissance Bombers With British Cruise Missiles

Forbes ^ | 5/28/2023 | David Axe

[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.

[vladimir998]

But it is true and everyone knows it’s true. There are millions of Russian speakers fighting for Ukraine and living in the area still controlled by Ukraine. They’re not being murdered for being Russian speakers. It’s just not happening. You know this is true. Why do you keep lying?