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Aviation is the only area in which the Russian Federation has superiority over Ukraine. Having Soviet models of aircraft in its fleet, Ukraine could not modernize them, since the Russian Federation prevented this for many years and did not make contact. Valery Romanenko, an aviation expert and researcher at the NAU museum, said this on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel.
According to the expert, Russian aviation, firstly, is more numerous. And secondly, they have planes, basically, at least twice modified or even new construction.
“Ukraine has aircraft manufactured around 1985-1991. We’ve been doing some upgrades. But due to the fact that the planes were produced in Russia, we had very poor supplies of spare parts for weapons, the Russians did not meet us halfway and we practically did not receive spare parts from them. Therefore, it was very difficult for us to carry out modernization,” Romanenko said.
He also explained that the weapons control system is the main element of the fighter, it is extremely important for the use of the aircraft. But it has a closed architecture, and Ukrainian specialists could in no way carry out any kind of modernization.
Romanenko noted that with the help of partners, Ukraine will soon make up for air losses with modernized MiG-29 aircraft from Poland and Slovakia.
“In fact, our losses are now being replenished, nothing more. That is, we had aircraft manufactured before 1991, and we receive aircraft manufactured before 1991. There were statements that these aircraft have the most modern weapons of NATO. But it is not so. All MiGs remained with Soviet weapons. I explained the reason – the closed architecture of the weapons control system does not allow the introduction of any new controlled systems there, ”Romanenko emphasized.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine need a single type of combat aircraft. They can be, including the American F-16, the expert believes.
“We need a single type of combat aircraft, as is customary in NATO countries. It can be F-16, and F-18, and F-15. Naturally, it is desirable that there be a combination of the two types, because the Russians mainly have heavy fighters – air superiority aircraft. The F-16 is, of course, a good multipurpose aircraft, but it is a light fighter. It is still desirable to get some combination of a light and heavy fighter. But these are already quite dreams, because for a number of reasons it is difficult to realize, ”said the guest of the broadcast.
As for the number of aircraft that the Ukrainian Air Force needs, Romanenko believes that at the moment at least 30 aircraft are needed.
“It has been repeatedly said that Ukraine needs 200 aircraft. But this does not mean that we need all of them by the summer. It is simply unrealistic to train such a number of pilots. At least to begin with, we need one brigade – 24 aircraft. With local combat training aircraft and some kind of reserve – somewhere up to 30 aircraft. That would be real help. And then we could cover our advancing troops from the air, organize minimal support for them during the counteroffensive, ”summed up the aviation expert.
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