Translation of "Swifts" and "Russian Knights" near Lipetsk can benefit our Air Force
Reports that the Ministry of Defense is going to sell a military airfield in Kubinka have generated a strong emotional surge in the Russian electronic and print media, as well as on the Internet. The leitmotif of most of the comments is "keep selling holy things."
For some reason, no one remembers the saying "When they take off their head, they don't cry for their hair." In the course of numerous continuous military reforms over the past two decades, so much "saint" has been sold in our country that there is more at the airfield, less at the airfield - in fact, it is not very important. Even if this airfield is heard by the whole country. It should be borne in mind, by the way, that the sale of military facilities that have lost their former purpose is a completely common thing in the United States, and in other NATO countries, and in China. There they are put up for auction in hundreds, including airfields.
In fact, the main question is different: will this "negotiation" harm the Fatherland? More precisely, won't it weaken Moscow's air defense?
Immediately I want to reassure ignorant readers of the "military-industrial complex": the task of providing air defense of the capital to the base in Kubinka has never been assigned. In addition, now only the 237th Aviation Technology Show Center is located here. This prosaic name hides the world famous aerobatic teams "Swifts" and "Russian Knights" (the first fly on the MiG-29, the second on the Su-27). Now they are supposed to be transferred to the 4th Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel named after V. P. Chkalov, located near Lipetsk. This adds passion to the comments, since the transfer of two symbols of national pride from the Moscow region “into the wilderness” is interpreted as their destruction, because it turns the aces pilots into almost destitute people.
I would like to remind you that a military pilot, even a super-elite one, is an official person. He must serve where the Motherland directs him. In Kamchatka, in Transbaikalia, in the Arctic. And even more so - in a place not far from the Mother See, where there is no natural, political and economic extreme (Lipetsk region is consistently included in a small number of Russian regions - donors of the federal budget). In addition, the 237th CPAT will not be in a "clear field", but in the garrison, the personnel of which also belong to the elite of the Air Force, because all aircraft entering the armament of the domestic military aviation pass through it and finally receive a "ticket to the sky". By the way, now all the Su-34s we have are located near Lipetsk. Accordingly, the lamentations about the bitter fate of "Swifts" and "Knights" seem to be somewhat exaggerated.
In addition, consideration should be given to the role and position of the aerobatic teams within the Air Force.
There are similar groups in many countries of the world, up to Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, South Africa, Morocco. They are the "calling cards" not only of the national aviation, but also of the country as a whole. Naturally, they include the best pilots who are able to demonstrate the wonders of not only higher, but also group aerobatics. Moreover, what is interesting is often not on combat aircraft.
Only Russian Knights fly on heavy fighters. On the lungs - "Swifts", "Ukrainian Falcons" (on the same MiG-29), Thunderbirds (US Air Force, on F-16), Blue Angels (US Navy, on F / A-18), "August 1" (Chinese Air Force, formerly J-7, now J-10), Turkish Stars (on F-5), Black Knigts (Singapore Air Force, on F-16). Moreover, the aircraft of all these groups can only be conditionally considered combat: they have no weapons, sometimes the pylons for its suspension are also removed. Fighters are lightened as much as possible, because they are not intended for combat, but for aerobatics.
The overwhelming majority (more than 40) of the world's aerobatic teams are equipped with training vehicles. The French La Patrouille de France and the Portuguese Asas de Portugal have Alpha Jet aircraft. The Italian Freccie tricolori has MB-339. The Japanese Blue Impulse has a T-4. The South African Silver falcons have the RS-7. The English Red Arrows have "Hawks". And so on, and so on. All these aircraft for air combat are not intended in principle and can be used as light attack aircraft, but not as fighters.
As for the unique maneuvers of our aircraft ("cobra", "bell", "hook"), they, according to some practitioners, in real combat are at best useless, at worst - harmful, with their help, a fight in the air can not to win, but to lose confidently. For example, a fighter that has made a "cobra" turns for the enemy into a motionless target of huge dimensions, because it turns towards him not with its nose, but with its belly. Even for a beginner, it will not be difficult to drive a rocket into this belly. On the other hand, it is unrealistic for the aircraft that performed this figure to shoot missiles "behind the back": in this position it is only able to stay for a few seconds, the process of target acquisition and launching missiles at it during this time is impossible. The main thing is that no one has ever tried to perform all these miracles of aerobatics with rockets suspended from a car. Indeed, in this case, the weight of the aircraft increases, its entire aerodynamics changes (air resistance, vehicle alignment, etc.). And then the "bells" and "cobras" will most likely become simply impossible.
We must not forget about one more significant point: it is very difficult to assume that "cobras", "bells", "hooks" will be able to train combat pilots on a massive scale (even if the annual flight time in the RF Air Force reaches the North American or Western European level - 250-270 hours) …
Finally, modern long-range air-to-air missiles, stealth technologies have significantly reduced the value of maneuverability in air combat, it began to play an auxiliary role at best. Now the capabilities of weapons and on-board electronics are much more important. The information factor took the first place. The pilot must be perfectly oriented in the developing situation: be the first to detect the enemy, remaining unnoticed by the latter, and use his weapon earlier (and it is very desirable that it is not required to do this again).
Further, the factor of aircraft armament is extremely important, especially long and medium-range air-to-air missiles, with the help of which it is possible to strike not just from outside the visual range, but preferably before the enemy even realizes that he is being attacked. And only then comes the factor of maneuverability, it acts in the event that it came to close combat, when opponents see each other.
That is why the flights of aerobatic teams are more related to aviation sports (or even art) than to combat training, to checking the characteristics of equipment. Of course, the skill of the pilots is demonstrated to the maximum, but not the capabilities of the aircraft, since they find themselves in artificial conditions that have nothing to do with real combat. "Bells" and "cobras", passing "diamonds" - all this is for the show, but not for the fight.
So the transfer of "Swifts" and "Russian Knights" to the Lipetsk pulp and paper mill can be of great benefit. It is unlikely that someone will interfere with our "business cards" to further hone the techniques of showing the most complex aerobatics. At the same time, they and the Lipetsk pilots, if the work is properly organized, can very well enrich each other with experience, increasing the general level of combat training of fighter aircraft. It will become much clearer to what extent the art of aerobatic teams is useful in preparing for a real war. What, in fact, is the Air Force intended for.
In fact, the most pressing question is: where will the money (apparently very considerable), received from the sale of Kubinka, go? Consequently, the Ministry of Defense must clearly report to fellow citizens: the funds have been spent on solving such and such problems of the defenders of the Motherland, in particular the aviators. This is something to worry about seriously, and not about the fact that national pride will be as much as 320 km from Moscow.
