A week after the Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk Oblast began, the Russian Air Force redirected much of its firepower to the Ukrainian invasion corps, dropping up to 50 KAB bombs each day at corps bases in Kursk Oblast. Sumy, just across the border. Kursk.
This is part of the 25-mile-range bombs that the Russian Air Force routinely drops every day along the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 29-month war against Ukraine.
But Ukraine also has an air force and satellite-guided bombs with at least as much diversity and accuracy as Russian KABs. On Tuesday, the first videos gave the impression of being online, with Ukrainian fighters dropping joint U. S. -made direct-attack munition bombs at targets. in Kursk.
The Ukrainian aircraft reportedly hit a Russian command post in Tetkino, a few kilometers north of the front line in Kursk. Notably, the attack was carried out through an old ex-Soviet Sukhoi Su-27, not through one of the old Danish Lockheeds. Martin F-16s recently delivered through Ukraine.
Although the F-16s are compatible with JDAM bombs, it appears that the Ukraine Air Force is deploying those nimble fighters for air defense patrols and not for riskier ground attacks, at least initially.
The threat to aircraft around the Kursk salient is significant. The Ukrainian military has deployed what one Russian blogger called a “significant number” of air defense batteries, as well as electronic jammers capable of jamming radio signals and, in some cases, even launching satellite-guided missiles. bombs
With the use of explosive drones, Ukrainian batteries shot down several Russian helicopters. In retaliation, Russian artillery destroyed a Ukrainian Buk air defense vehicle.
Russian air defenses around Kursk are also important. Not in vain was a Ukrainian Su-27 seen flying a few hundred meters above the battlefield after dropping its gliding bombs. Pilots on both sides fly as low as imaginable as occasionally as imaginable. to avoid detection by enemy radars.
Although both sides have deployed fighter jets over the border invasion zone, it is conceivable that the Russians will deploy more fighter jets. There is evidence of Russian shelling aimed at both Ukrainian troops in Kursk and their bases in Sumy.
The only target shown for a Ukrainian bomb is the Russian command post at Tetkino. In other words, it is not transparent that the Ukrainians have extended their air force over the front line.
That would make sense. Despite the intensification of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks against Russian air bases in and around Kursk, the Russians still have more planes and more bombs. The F-16s promised through Ukraine’s European allies are arriving slowly and in small numbers.
It is conceivable that the Ukrainian air force will only have about a hundred fighter jets, after having wasted several on Russian attacks on Ukrainian airfields this summer. “The incursion (. . . ) it will challenge Ukraine’s already strained armed forces,” said Hans Petter Midttun, a non-resident researcher at the Center for Defense Strategies.
The approximately three hundred aircraft deployed to the Kremlin for the air war against Ukraine can drop up to one hundred bombs per day; Ukraine’s small air force will most likely lose a fraction of that number.
It should be noted that around the same time that the Su-27s were bombing Russian positions in Kursk, other Ukrainian aircraft were bombing three Russian-controlled cities in Kharkiv Oblast, about 160 kilometers southeast of the Kursk salient, according to the SDC.
It is notable, however, that, despite a serious disadvantage in aircraft, bombs, and other heavy weapons, Ukraine did not simply invade Russia: the invasion shows no signs of slowing down.
“We are on the offensive,” an unnamed Ukrainian official told Midtgun. “The goal is to expand the enemy’s positions, inflict maximum losses and destabilize the situation in Russia, because they cannot cross their own border. “
The Russians are not only vulnerable in Kursk, they are also vulnerable in the air, as Ukrainian planes prepare for the week-long invasion.
Sources:
1. Conflict Report: https://x. com/clashreport/status/1823340857635807323
2. Alex Baxmore: https://x. com/LloydUkrYT/status/1823353679631523852
3. Center for Defense Strategies: https://cdsdailybrief. substack. com/p/russias-war-on-ukraine-130824
4. Hans Petter Midttun as https://euromaidanpress. com/2024/08/13/the-kursk-incursion-logic/
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