Russia scrambles to safeguard aircraft as Ukrainian strikes intensify
The Russians admit that Western missiles are destroying their planes, according to the Defence Romania portal. For this reason, Moscow plans to prepare special hangars to protect the equipment remaining in their arsenal there.
The Russians regularly lose more planes. The Ukrainians have almost perfected their strikes on the enemy's air bases—even those several hundred kilometres from the front line. One proof of the presence of long-range drones in the Ukrainian arsenal is the strikes on the Engels base. There, the Russian Federation stores, among other things, Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers.
Strikes against Russian aviation are critical today because F-16 fighters will soon be delivered to Ukraine. Every lost plane in the aggressor's army is thus a significant success for the defenders, as it may soon determine the air superiority of Ukrainian forces.
The attacks on air bases continue incessantly, as evidenced by the strike carried out as recently as last weekend on the Millerovo base in Russia. Satellite photos taken after the attack confirm that the Ukrainians hit a hangar (most likely containing aircraft parts) and aviation fuel tanks.
In light of these and previous incidents, the Russians themselves admit that Western missiles are destroying their planes. Therefore, the Russian Federation has announced the construction of hangars to protect aircraft in military bases.
Russia admits to problems
"The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced the construction of special hangars to protect aircraft. Even the Russian propaganda media report this," reads Defence Romania. The Russians admit that they have problems with the fact that Western weapons used by Ukrainians hit their planes.
Defence Romania also mentions a conversation between Russian military analyst Alexander Kots and officials, who confirmed that Moscow will soon launch an extensive programme to build special hangars. Their role will be to shield aircraft from drones and missiles. At the same time, the Russians do not disclose details about the construction of these structures. It is not known precisely when the first constructions can be expected in air bases.
Precise Ukrainian weapons
However, Let's recall that the biggest bane for the Russians—as calculated by Defence Romania—may be accurate Storm Shadow/SCALP or ATACMS missiles, characterized by high strike accuracy. The ATACMS above are ballistic missiles with a range of about 300 kilometres. The warhead of a single ammunition of this type weighs approximately 560 kilogrammes, while the entire rocket is nearly 1,700 kilogrammes.
Storm Shadow/SCALP, on the other hand, is a weapon with a length of 5.1 metres that accelerates to speeds of 1,000 kilometres per hour. It can hit targets ranging from 250 to 400 kilometres, detonating a 450-kilogram warhead upon impact. This weapon's targeting utilises inertial navigation, GPS, and TERPROM. In the final phase of the attack, infrared target identification is activated for a precise strike.
