The smart way in which Ukraine protects his F-16s against Russia can be the key to survival of the Air Force in the Modern War

• Ukraine has a new way to continue an important strategy to keep its Air Force alive.

• It has new complexes to keep its F-16s moving, away from fixed bases.

• The West is increasingly embracing the spread and Ukraine has shown how important it is.

Being able to fight from non-traditional locations is a growing priority for the West in the midst of concern about the conflict on peer level against an enemy such as Russia or China and the risk that fixed bases can be destroyed early in a conflict.

For Ukraine, spread and mobility, while retaining agility, are crucial for the country's air force that survived the attack of Russia.

Ukraine uses two new complexes mounted with trucks to support its US-made F-16 Jets with mission planning, maintenance and ammunition. These systems, developed and delivered by the group are reflected alive with the support of the military and energy sector of Ukraine, replacing functions that are usually limited to fixed bases.

One of the new complexes has a command post and workstations for mission planning and briefings for pilots, as well as room for staff to rest, and another is delivered with a workshop for testing and preparing weapons and trucks for placing ammunition in the aircraft.

It is very important because “Ukrainian airports are one of the enemy's priority goals, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the plane safe,” said Come Back Alive. Ukraine has also not been able to build the support infrastructure that the F-16s need, so flexible solutions are required.

Tim Robinson, a military aviation specialist at the British Royal Aeronautical Society, described it as a very innovative step that could be 'critical' to help the few F-16s of Ukraine survive.

“You actually have to keep F-16s on the road, move these vehicles and allow them to keep operating in these circumstances where Russia is looking for them,” said Robinson. With steps like this, he added, Ukraine comes “to where a lot of NATO would like to be.”

Ukraine's spread

Keeping distributed and split aircraft has prevented the air force of Ukraine, much smaller than that of Russia. An American general said that Ukraine lost relatively little of his planes on the ground in the first 18 months, because “they will rarely take off and land at the same airport.”

Russia, on the other hand, was not to try to spread his plane noticeably until Ukraine began to hit his bases with long -distance drones, putting the war on Russian soil. And although Russia is now moving his plane to keep them safe, Ukraine continues to score hits on Russian planes because of the tendency to keep them clustered.

Ukraine has been more successful in aiming Russian air bases than the Russians have hit the Ukrainian.

Many Western countries are highly dependent on permanent bases and fixed installations to support their aircraft fleet, which works well in peacetime or in conflict scenarios in which the opponent lacks the means to reach them, as has been in conflicts in the middle in recent decades. But countries with much more advanced arsenals and the ability to eliminate enemy air force on the ground makes it necessary to have alternatives.

A sense of urgency in the West

The West leaned in distribution, breakdown and fought from sober locations in the midst of concern about both Russia and China. The army of China has a growing range, making us bases in the Pacific Ocean more vulnerable, and Russia is also on war feet, which increases rocket production.

In the midst of efforts to stimulate air defenses, others are aimed at ensuring that essential allied air force is not a sitting duck.

This is a driving force, for example behind what the US Air Force calls its Agile Combat Employment Strategy, where operations are operated from scattered locations and Airpower Agile and flexible. It considers this practice crucial in the Pacific as the Chinese army expands.

The US and allies want less dependence on traditional starting and runways because it is much more difficult to focus on every piece of concrete in a country than to continue air basses.

Some fighter aircraft, such as the Gripen from Sweden, are built for robust operations, and aircraft such as MQ-9 Reaper drones and A-10 Warthogs have stopped and landed on Dirt AirStrips. Other jets such as F-16s and newer F-35s have carried out highway landings alongside other aircraft, and large C-130 transport aircraft have even landed on beaches.

The urgency has been increased while soldiers look closely in the Russian war to see how it fights and to see what kind of changes they should make.

Robinsons said that many Western soldiers were already looking at distribution, but “Ukraine has just accelerated that a bit, followed it quickly and back in people's heads.”

For example, a French lieutenant -colonel said that a distribution exercise from 2023 was carried out in which British, American and French Air Force was involved, “the new way to do it, to face the pear threats that we currently have.”

The US has also noticed the change. Gene. Kevin Schneider, commander of US Pacific Air Forces, said in March that “the days of operating secure, fixed bases are over”, saying that the threats in the Indo-Pacific region require a flexible, resilient power that can work from multiple, scattered locations under disputed locations under disputed locations. “

Jarmo Lindberg, a former Finnish fighter pilot who was commander of the Finnish defense groups last year, told Business Insider that Front-Line NATO countries should take more distribution tactics.

He said that Finland, which borders Russia and his army, designed with a Russian threat in mind, has been embracing the idea of distribution for decades, also by having road bases and jets that can use civilian airports, not just military.

However, major changes are difficult, extremely expensive and can make air operations less efficient.

A former Western Air Force Intelligence Officer, who spoke with Bi on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk about what he learned in the role, said it is a cultural that most Western air forces are used to operating from centralized bases. “

But he said that there must be some change away from full centralization, because “putting them all on each other to be beaten is not really an option.”

Another kind of war

Ukraine's struggle against Russia is not necessarily not how a conflict at peer level in which the West would be involved. The West has much larger air force and more advanced jets than that of Ukraine. Kyiv now has Soviet era rays and only a handful of used F-16s and Mirages.

However, there are still important lessons in this war.

Warnings that the West may not be ready for a big war with an almost-pear opponent, now cause major defense spending, and the air war is for the mind. Looking at Ukraine, for example, there is a growing awareness that there is a huge shortage of ground base in the West. These are vital systems for protecting bases and other goals.

Taras Chmut, the director of Come Back Alive, emphasized how different this fight is for Ukraine compared to how the jets were used by Western partners.

“The plane received by Ukraine appeared and existed in a closed ecosystem,” he said. “They were not used as we use them.

He suggested that the West did not have to copy this exact solution. Ukraine has no time “for the full use of infrastructure for the F-16; the most rational solution is to invest in a mobile ecosystem.”

Developments in Ukraine are driven by immediate necessity, but the West Pay attention.

“Changing F-16-style, permanent basic tops in Gripen-style-spread operations is something that I think that a lot of air force will look at interest with interest,” said Robinson.

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