Through its official Twitter account, the Ukrainian Air Force publicly and explicitly asks the West for modern fighters and air defense systems, to dispute Russian air superiority.
The Twitter thread posted by the Ukrainian Air Force is primarily directed at Western media, denouncing the spread of disinformation about the war in Ukraine, which would benefit (intentionally or unintentionally) the Russian armed forces’ war campaign.
⚡The Ukrainian Air Force would like to address misinformation published in multiple Western media outlets regarding the situation in the ???????? sky and support from our @NATO allies.
More in ????(1/16)#ProtectUАSky #StopRussia #UkraineUnderAttaсk— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) March 31, 2022
One of the information circulating in the various Western media, which this Twitter thread wants to challenge, is that Ukraine’s successes in ground combat, are sufficient to win the war. The Ukrainian Air Force maintains that this conception is FALSE.
They claim that air superiority is the decisive factor in this war, as air superiority has played a key role in all wars from WWII onwards.
It is also claimed that it is FALSE that they have adequate means to defend their airspace from Russian forces, as their Air Force (VVS) is many times larger and possesses better radar and missile technology.
The Ukrainian Air Force admits that it cannot gain air superiority, or even contest it with the VVS, given this large disparity in means.
To try to close this capability gap, Ukraine has been asking the West for urgent supplies of modern fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
Over the past month, the Ukrainian Air Force has suffered losses; as equipment is destroyed by Russian forces or damaged in action, and its needs only become more urgent.
The tweet also contradicts the idea circulating in the media that only Stinger-type shoulder-launched light anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS in Ukraine) can compensate for the lack of capabilities in the other areas.
«Successful defense against russian threats in the air (including cruise missiles, among others) requires fighter jets as well as medium- and long-range surface-based air defense systems«, the tweet affirm.
MANPADS systems such as the Stinger/Igla/Piorun have limited range and functionality; they cannot compensate for the lack of fighters and medium to long range air defense systems. Drones are also not useful for air defense, only for ground attack.
Also denounced is the limited intervention of Ukraine’s Western allies, which have so far failed to respond to recurring requests for more capable anti-aircraft assets.
The Ukrainian Air Force is directly requesting Western fourth generation fighters (no longer Polish MiG-29s) such as the F-15 and F-16, or even more advanced ones, considering them to be the most effective means of countering the current air supremacy enjoyed by the VVS over Ukraine.
Surprisingly, the tweet claims that Ukrainian pilots can learn to fly these aircraft with only two to three weeks of training.
Currently, the best Ukrainian air defense assets are based on S-300 and Buk-M1 systems inherited from the Soviet era, technologically outdated (several of these equipment have already been destroyed by the VVS).
Ukraine specifically asks to be provided with US-designed Patriot anti-aircraft systems, or the cheaper and more deployable Norwegian NASAMS. In addition, Ukraine could also use more Soviet-era S-300 and BUK-M1 systems, which still retain some effectiveness against the enemy.
The Ukrainian Air Force claims that Russia launched against its territory more than 1,000 ballistic and cruise missiles, and dropped hundreds of tons of «dumb» bombs against its towns and cities.
The tweet claims that most of these attacks could have been intercepted if Ukrainian territory was covered by the necessary number of effective air defense systems.
This Twitter thread is a rather direct and public way of getting Ukrainian claims into the Western mass media, hopefully perhaps mobilizing the public to exert pressure on politicians to accede to these claims, which would imply much more direct involvement of European countries and NATO members in the war.
