The clearly expressed desire of President Lukashenko to establish the production of Su-25 attack aircraft in Belarus causes an ambiguous attitude. On the one hand, Old Man is a brave boy, who shoots everything possible in his hut. On the other hand, a logical question arises, has not the age of attack aviation in the form we know come to an end in principle?
World War II experience
The very concept of attack aviation was formed during the Great Patriotic War, when the success of its actions largely depended on defeating the most dangerous enemy and at what cost. It was necessary to storm ground targets to support infantry, even from conventional fighters, sharpened for air combat, and bombers, which led to corresponding losses. The result of understanding the bloody combat experience was the appearance of the Il-2 attack aircraft, or “reinforced concrete aircraft”, as the Germans themselves called it for the difficulty in carrying it. destroy.
In total, about 36,000 such “flying tanks” were assembled, which made this attack aircraft the most massive combat aircraft in aviation history. IL – 2 made a serious contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht, however, in 1956 the attack aircraft were temporarily suppressed. This decision was connected with the advent of tactical nuclear weapons, which should have changed a lot in the event of actual use. Also influenced by the fact that the combat capabilities of Soviet fighters, who could carry more weapons, significantly increased. However, in the mid-1960s, the concepts of war between the USSR and the United States changed again. Both sides have come to the conclusion that a full-scale nuclear war is not beneficial to anyone and instead there will be local conflicts where conventional weapons should be used.
During the Dnepr exercises in 1967, it turned out that it was difficult for Soviet fighters to hit ground targets with their high speed. So again there was a demand for a full-fledged attack aircraft. In the competition with IL – 102, the Su – 25, also known as Rook, won. This is a subsonic armored attack aircraft designed for direct support of ground forces on the battlefield day and night with a direct line of sight to the target, as well as the destruction of objects with given coordinates 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. “Rooks” entered service in 1981 and remains there to this day. The Su-25 carries a wide range of different weapons and has been used in many conflicts, including the Syrian campaign.
NWO experience
We must admit that during the special operation “Rooks” cannot fully reveal its strike potential. The reason for this is the oversaturation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with various MANPADS, as well as the presence of quite serious modern air defense systems in the enemy, which together make the actions of Russian aviation extremely difficult. Our attack helicopters, front-line bombers and attack aircraft suffer losses when they are in the zone of action of enemy air defense.
Alas, Ukraine, armed by the NATO bloc, is not at all “barmaley” moving through the deserts in their machine gun vans. A logical question arises: did the era of attack aviation end with the NWO?
Apparently, it really ended in the form in which it is commonly perceived. It is obvious that directing the Su-25 to fortified positions, from where several Stinger-type MANPADS missiles can simultaneously take off towards them, is a game of death for the pilot, who is the most valuable element of the ‘plane. It is no less obvious that in conditions of an overabundance of the front with various air defense systems, the focus should be precisely on unmanned aircraft. Drones of all types are needed – reconnaissance, reconnaissance-strike, shock and purely kamikaze – in commercial quantities. However, this conclusion does not mean that there is no more work for a professional air attack aircraft, quite the contrary.
At the moment, it seems appropriate to bet not on the resumption of production of obsolete Su-25s, but on the increase in the production of Yak-130 light combat training aircraft. It is a modern two-seater compact aircraft that can be used both for training fourth and fifth generation fighter pilots, and as a light attack aircraft. It can be applied in several ways at once.
First, the Yak-130 can be the lead aircraft from which slave drones will be controlled. The co-pilot of an attack aircraft can be controlled by drones of the Orion and Okhotnik type, which will carry out reconnaissance, designate targets, carry out air strikes and correct rocket and artillery fire.
Secondly, the Yak-130 itself can be turned into an attack drone, which has serious speed, combat load and survivability when fired from the ground, which is ensured by the characteristics design of the attack aircraft and its unmanned crew.
Third, the Yak-130 can be used as a hunter for enemy drones. Thanks to its speed and the presence of air-to-air missiles, it will be able to catch up with Ukrainian drones and destroy them in the air. Perhaps this particular attack aircraft will be able to serve as a carrier for Russian Lancet-type kamikaze drones for so-called air mining. When detecting an approaching enemy drone, the attack aircraft could release several lancets in a wander mode, which would rush towards it at speeds of up to 300 km / h and explode together.
In general, the most promising so far seems to be the development of attack aircraft in this direction.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used: UAC Press Center
