When US Air Force F-16CM Falcon or US Navy EA-18G Growler fighters fly Wild Weasel missions they use Self Protect mode.
In this mode the Falcon's AN/ASQ-213 HTS R7 (to the left of the air inlet) and the Growler's AN/ALQ-218(V)2 (on the wingtips) sensor systems detect, locate, 2/n
analyze, and identify sources of radio frequency emission. Once a threat is identified the pilot transmits the target data to the missile and launches it.
There is no chance this would work with Ukrainian fighters as US sensor systems can't be installed on Ukrainian planes
3/n
and there is no way to transmit targeting data to the missiles.
Self Protect mode can also be used with aircraft like the F-15C, F-15E, F/A-18C (photo), which lack the aforementioned sensor systems.
In this case the aircraft's own less accurate, less powerful radar warning
4/n
receiver would be used to identify targets. This would also not work with Ukrainian planes as there is no way to transmit the targeting data to the missiles.
In the Target Of Opportunity mode the AGM-88's own passive radar homing seeker scans for and detects targets.
5/n
Once the missile detects a target it transmits the target data to the plane's avionics and the pilot decides if it is a threat. The pilot then fires the missile, which attacks the target autonomously.
This wouldn't work with Ukrainian planes either as the missile can't
6/n
transmit target data to the pilots.
BUT - most importantly: Self Protect and Target Of Opportunity modes are suicide UNLESS a plane carries a full range of jamming and self-protection pods. This is why the US nowadays only uses the AGM-88 with F-16CM and EA-18G planes.
7/n
F-16CM carry an ALQ-184 ECM electronic countermeasures pod and at least one AN/ALE-50 towed decoy system.
EA-18G carry three AN/ALQ-99F(V) tactical jamming system pods (photo: one centerline and two under the wings).
8/n
Without these systems planes will not survive flying high and deep into an enemy air-defense bubbles.
This leaves only the Pre-Briefed mode. In this mode a AGM-88 is programmed before the fighter departs from the air base with the coordinates of an enemy radar site.
9/n
Once in the air the fighter releases the AGM-88 at maximum speed and maximum altitude, giving the missile a range in excess of 150 km.
Once released the AGM-88 will fly towards the coordinates, and when it reaches lock-on range it will scan for, detect, lock on and attack
10/n
the target autonomously.
This mode works with Ukrainian fighters jets. All they have to do is lift the AGM-88 up, go supersonic, and release the missile.
While AGM-88B and AGM-88C-1 use INS to steer them towards a target area, where they then scan for targets, the
11/n
AGM-88D also includes GPS-guidance, which enables the missile to strike known radar and air-defense sites, even when they do not emit radio frequencies.
And C-1 and D also have the ability to home-on-jam, which forces russia to switch off it's electronic warfare systems.
12/n
And how does Ukraine know where to aim the AGM-88... I think there are two ways:
1) locals reporting the locations of russian air defense systems, radars, jammers, electronic warfare systems 2) US Air Force or UK Royal Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft, which are
13/n
used to detect, identify and geolocate electromagnetic signals.
US Air Force Rivet Joints have been used before to detected enemy radar and radio emissions and then vector AGM-88 carrying fighters towards these targets. However RC-135 flying over Romania can only scan the
14/n
Kherson Oblast... anything further is out of range.
Ukraine using AGM-88 forces the russians to switch off all their systems emitting radio frequencies. If they leave them on 24/7 as they did until now Ukraine will destroy them all with AGM-88.
15/n
And thanks to russia showing us the remnants of a AGM-88, we know that Ukraine received the D variant with GPS guidance.
So even if the russians switch their systems on and off, once the AGM-88D has locked on, there is no escape for the russians. Absolutely no escape.
16/end
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People have forgotten the insane density (and cost) of NATO's Cold War SAM belts.
In Germany alone the HAWK belt consisted of (from North to South):
โข 24ร German
โข 12ร Dutch
โข 8x Belgian
โข 35ร US Army
โข 12ร German
1/8
HAWK sites, each of which was filled with radars and missile launchers. (Photo: the Dutch HAWK site on Velmerstot in Germany).
Between the SAM belt and the border mobile radars, and short range air defense systems like Gepard, Roland, Chaparral, VADS, etc. as well as mobile 2/8
Javelin and Stinger teams covered the units operating there.
And behind the HAWK SAM (Surface to Air Missile) belt followed a second SAM belt, with long range NIKE HERCULES missiles, which carried nuclear warheads. All this was backed up by German, US Air Force, British 3/8
On April Fool's Day the head of the German Navy's Naval Aviation the #Marineflieger joked that the Marineflieger would finally get fighter jets again...
This should NOT be a joke.
This should be a high priority investment for the Bundeswehr.
A thread about ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ซ๐ฎ๐ต๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ง:
1/17
During the Cold War the West German & Danish navies' tasks were to:
โข prevent the Soviet Baltic, East German & Polish fleets from transiting the Skagerrak
โข prevent Warsaw Pact amphibious landings on the Danish isles
For this the German forces in Schleswig Holstein & the
2/17
Danish military were assigned to NATO's Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP) Command.
To defend the sea approaches BALTAP had 30 submarines, 56 missile boats, some 60 mine layers, and land based Harpoon missile batteries (which were transferred to Ukraine in June 2022).
3/17
The Soviet Union was losing the war against Germany.
Only the ๐บ๐ธ US industry saved the Soviets.
In 1941 in seven months of war in the East the Wehrmacht suffered 285,400 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,137,673 irrecoverable Soviet losses. A ratio of 1 to 11 (!). 1/6
In the 12 months of 1942 the Wehrmacht suffered 500,700 irrecoverable losses vs. 3,258,216 Soviet irrecoverable losses. A ratio of 1 to 6.5.
BUT from 1941 to 1942 Soviet average monthly losses decreased by 176,700 troops... because US Lend/Lease materiel began to arrive. 2/6
Especially helpful were 312,600 American trucks (which incl. about 187,900 Studebaker US6). This allowed the Soviets to motorize their rifle divisions and vastly improved Red Army logistics. (The Soviet Union only produced 150,000 trucks during the entire war). 3/6
During the Cold War the British Army was the smallest of the four big (๐ฌ๐ง๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐น) European NATO armies.
The British Army fielded 13 brigades (+ the Royal Marines' Commando brigade), while Germany fielded 38 and Italy 25 brigades. 1/6
France fielded 12 divisions, which each had the strength of 2ร standard NATO brigades.
But no one complained, because at the time the Royal Air Force was the biggest air force on the continent with some 800+ fighters & bombers. Only France fielded a comparable air force. 2/6
And the Royal Navy was the second biggest navy in NATO with more ocean-going ships than the French, German and Italian navies combined (!).
But after the Cold War, and especially under the Tory governments since 2010, the British Armed Forces have been wrecked. 3/6
Air Force reductions in Europe 1989 - 2024
A look at ๐บ๐ธ๐ฌ๐ง๐ฉ๐ช๐ซ๐ท๐ฎ๐น๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ซ๐ฎ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐น๐ช๐ธ
Let's start with fighter bases in Germany:
โข left 1989
โข right 2024
#Transnistria asking putin to annex it to russia is insane.
The center of Tiraspol, the capital of this russian created fake state, is barely 10km from Ukraine... and there are 0 geographical obstacles between Ukraine and Transnistria.
The six Ukrainian brigades currently 1/4
in the Odesa region (20,000+ battle hardened troops) outmatch the approximately 4,000 Transnistrian troops and 1,000 russian troops. And half of the Transnistrian troops are in the north, while half of the russians are on the other side of the Dniester in the city of Bender,
2/4
with just one bridge connecting Bender to the rest of Transnistria... not to mention that if Ukraine goes in, then so will Moldova and Romania, which will see the few Transnistrian troops attacked from ALL sides.
Ukraine has the easiest route to enter Transnistria: this image 3/4