Ukraine - Army Aviation Modernization
The commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, announced 12 January 2024 the need for American aircraft and helicopters capable of providing direct support to ground forces. "I would talk about the A-10 as an option if they were made available to us," he told Reuters in an interview . According to him, this attack aircraft, adopted by the United States 50 years ago, still “has a wide range of weapons to destroy ground targets to assist infantry.” In addition, according to Syrsky, Ukrainian forces would like to have attack helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Super Cobra, as well as UH-60 Black Hawk military transports.
However, at this stage, Ukraine is still waiting for the delivery of the F-16 fighter-bombers promised last year. At the same time, the planes are being transferred to Kyiv not by the United States, but by their NATO allies - at the end of August last year, the Netherlands announced their readiness to transfer 42 F-16s to Ukraine, and Denmark promised Kyiv 19 such aircraft. A representative of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Yuriy Ignat, said a week ago that the country is still preparing the infrastructure for American aircraft, and six Ukrainian pilots are being trained in Denmark. At the same time, Kiev expresses hope that they will receive the fighters in the first half of 2024.
Ukraine’s helicopter brigades have been in the fight since the beginning. By November 2022 Ukraine had only 112 helicopters, compared with Russia's 1,543 helicopters. This is an enormous difference.
After one year of combat, Ukraine had lost 29 helicopters (of which 25 were destroyed, 1 damaged, and 3 captured). >osses included 4 Mi-2 training helicopter (1, destroyed) (3 captured); 21 Mi-8 transport helicopter: (20 destroyed and 1 damaged); 1 Mi-14 maritime helicopter destroyed; 2 Mi-24P attack helicopter destroyed; and 1 Mi-24 attack helicopter destroyed.
The United States and its NATO allies donated helicopters as part of their aid program for Ukraine. With a few exceptions, the donated aircraft are often Soviet-era models.In general, NATO countries have tended to avoid using Russian aircraft and combat systems, with a few exceptions. Few countries have sent manned aircraft to Ukraine since the start of the conflict, and requests by its government for Western nations to send fighter jets so far remain unanswered.
Latvia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic donated helicopters, including helicopter gunships, to Ukraine. The United States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Latvia between them sent Ukraine 40 Mil Mi-17s . The Mi-17 is a variant of the Mi-8. Yet, even if Ukraine were to receive more advanced systems, it would require a large number of trained support personnel to keep them operational. Ukraine is one of the former Soviet Union republics which hosts production and repair facilities for the helicopters.
The Czech Republic donated two Mi-24 attack helicopters (actually, Mi-35, the export version of the Mi-24V) to Ukraine. The helicopters were deployed to Ukraine in May 2022, part of a broader effort to help the country reclaim parity in its own airspace. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked the Czechs for their donation during public comments after a meeting of allied defense officials.
The gifts make the Czech Republic—which in April became the first NATO country to report donating tanks to Ukraine—the first to give Ukraine attack helicopters The U.S. has given Ukraine 16 Mi-17 helicopters originally procured for Afghanistan. To move Ukrainian troops around the battlefield, the April 13, 2022 American aid package included 11 Mi-17 helicopters. The helicopters augmented the five Mi-17 helicopters sent to Ukraine earlier this year.
"Ukraine accepted these excess defense articles on March 11," the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) noted in its quarterly report submitted to U.S. lawmakers. The report added: "In mid-April, President (Joe) Biden announced a military assistance package to Ukraine that included an additional 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been scheduled for Afghanistan." Helicopters were shipped to Ukraine by C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft from Davis-Monthan base in Arizona.
In an about-face move the Biden administration on April 13, 2022 decided against providing Ukraine with Mi-17 helicopters despite informing Congress of its intention to do so a day prior, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News. The shipment of helicopters was considered as part of a new $750 million aid package to Ukraine as it braced for a major offensive in its most eastern regions by Russian forces. Portugal will provide Ukraine with six Ka-32A11BC helicopters, according to an announcement October 20, 2022 from Helena Carreiras, Portugal’s Minister of Defense. “At the request of Ukraine and in conjunction with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we will make available to Ukraine our fleet of Kamov helicopters, which, due to the current scenario, the sanctions imposed on Russia, we are no longer able to operate. In fact, they do not have their airworthiness certificates, and we will not even be able to repair them,” Carreiras said. The Ka-32 is the civilian version of the Kamov Ka-27, which was developed for the Soviet Navy and entered service in 1982. Ukraine currently operates the Ka-27.
The UK sent helicopters to Ukraine for first time, Ben Wallace said 23 November 2022. Defence secretary says extra 10,000 artillery rounds also being sent to help secure retaken territory. Three Sea King helicopters will be provided, with the first reported to already be in Ukraine. The UK is sending helicopters to Ukraine for the first time, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has announced, in an escalation of support for Kyiv’s resistance against Vladimir Putin. They are the first piloted aircraft to be sent by the UK since the Russian invasion began in February. There was some confusion about whether the UK's weapons deliveries might include Apache gunships, with UK media reporting, but the MoD reportedly denying, that they will be sent. The British authorities intend to supply four AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to Ukraine along with Hellfire guided missiles. This was reported on 15 January 2023 by the weekly newspaper The Sunday People , citing defense sources. According to their estimates, after the British government makes an appropriate decision, the leaders of other NATO member countries can also send attack helicopters to Ukraine. As noted by the publication, each AH-64 Apache helicopter can be armed with 16 Hellfire missiles, 76 Hydra 70 unguided aircraft missiles and a 30 mm automatic cannon. It is assumed that the training of pilots will be conducted in the UK, and the helicopter maintenance base will be deployed in one of the countries bordering Ukraine, for example, in Poland, the newspaper noted. Ukraine’s four aviation brigades are similar in structure, with each on paper operating around 16 Mil Mi-8 transports and 10 Mil Mi-24 gunships. In practice, the distribution of airframes is uneven. And there are a few Mil Mi-2 training helicopters and Mil Mi-26 heavy transports sprinkled across the brigades.
The Army aviation is the most maneuverable branch of the Army, intended to conduct the tasks under different conditions of combat arms operations. Units and elements of the Army aviation provide reconnaissance, defeat weapons, equipment and humane resources of enemy, give fire support during the offence or counterattack, land tactical troops, deliver combat weapons and personnel at the specified areas, execute other main tasks. The Army consists of brigades and regiments of the Army aviation. Formations and units of the Army aviation are equipped by Mi-8, Mi-24 and their modifications. Prior to the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, Ukraine had approximately 52 Mi-8's while Russia is believed to have had about 300.
The airmobile forces is a highly mobile component of the Army. The airmobile forces consists of formations, units and elements of the Army and the Army aviation, that well trained for combined activities in the rear of the enemy. The airmobile forces is in constant combat readiness and is the high mobility branch of forces, that is capable of conducting any task under any conditions. The airmobile forces consists of airmobile division, single airmobile brigades and regiments.
In 2011 Ukraine’s state-owned defence industry conglomerate Ukroboronprom and France’s Sagem have signed an agreement to renew cooperation on modernization of Mi-24 attack helicopter for the Ukrainian Army. The additional protocol to the 2008 agreement was signed on 2 December in Paris. In October 2008 Sagem and Ukraine’s state-owned Konotop Aircraft Repair Plant “Aviakon” signed a contract on modernization of Mi-24 helicopters for the Ukrainian Army. The modernized version of the Mi-24 will be equipped with avionics and thermal imagers produced by Sagem, as well as new Ukrainian-made engines and armament. Fourteen Ukrainian defense enterprises will participate in the modernization.
A new model of attack helicopter, the Mi-24P, was scheduled for testing in Crimea in 2012, with over 200 flights planned. The Mi-24P is equipped with an upgraded TV3-117 VMA-SBM1V engine produced by JSC Motor Sich, new sights, a satellite navigation system and other innovations. These upgrades significantly expand the use of helicopter for low and high altitude, day and night flights, as well as in hot climactic conditions. The Mi-24P is intended for export markets.
By January 2023, Ukraine relied on Soviet-era choppers such as the Mil Mi-8, Mil Mi-17, and the Mil Mi24P attack helicopters, as it battles Russian forces. Besides hardware fatigue, artillery and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles pose a serious threat to Ukraine's aged combat helicopters, which must fly low and fast when conducting air-assault operations.
North Macedonia will transfer 12 Mi-24 attack helicopters to Ukraine, which are almost out of service, Defense Minister Slavyanka Petrovska said. This was reported on 26 March 2023 by the Kosovo Online portal. The minister said that the government of North Macedonia would decide to transfer to Ukraine 12 Mi-24 military helicopters, which the republic had previously bought from Kyiv. The decision to transfer was made after a request from the Ukrainian side and an analysis of the Macedonian army, which showed that "the deprivation of this military equipment will not affect the defense capabilities of North Macedonia." "According to our modernization plans, this equipment has almost exhausted its working life and will not be part of our weapons. If we had not transferred them, something would have to be decided in a short time," the minister said. In exchange for the Mi-24, North Macedonia intends to purchase at least eight Western-made helicopters, which will have a transport, not a military purpose, the minister of defense notes.
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