How Ukraine is beating the Russian airforce with US missiles
- Ukrainian anti-aircraft weapons shot down five Su-25 war planes.
- US-supplied ATACMS destroyed 14 helicopters on the ground, said UK military intelligence.
Ukraine spectacularly humiliated Putin's airforce in October, shooting down Russian warplanes and destroying helicopters on the ground, say reports.
Ukraine has been bolstering its air defense capabilities in recent months, and it shot down five Russian Su-25 attack jets over a 10 day period, The Kyiv Post reported.
The incidents have mainly occurred in areas of heavy ground combat, as the Su-25 relies on short-range, unguided rockets to attack its targets, typically following preliminary strikes by heavy bombers. It is a robust Soviet-era jet designed to withstand some missile strikes and small-arms fire, making it a crucial aircraft, experts say.
"They can't attack from a substantial distance. Therefore, the enemy has to fly closer, and as a result, we've shot down five planes over the past ten days," Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, told the UNIAN news agency.
That scale of combat aircraft losses has not been seen since the early days of Putin's full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian military has traditionally relied on hand-held anti-aircraft missiles like the Polish Grom and the US Stinger to defend their forward positions against Su-25 attacks. However, reports suggest that anti-aircraft missile stocks, especially the Stingers, have dwindled.
Ukraine sought assistance from the US to replenish its air defense arsenal, and AIM-9s were on the list.
A new delivery of US military aid for Ukraine "includes AIM-9 munitions for a new air-defense system that we will soon deliver to Ukraine," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said recently. It comes part of a military assistance package valued at $200 million.
Canada also announced it was donating 43 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles to Ukraine in May.
According to the US Air Force, the AIM-9 Sidewinder "is a supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft," and "it has a high-explosive warhead and an infrared heat-seeking guidance system."
Meanwhile, the UK has also supplied advanced AIM-132 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles, which Ukraine has fitted to trucks.
Ukraine's recently acquired ATACMS missile systems have also boosted its capability to attack the Russian air force. This week, the much-prized weapon was first used in spectacular strikes on two Russian airfields in Berdyansk and Luhansk, Ukraine claimed.
The UK's Ministry of Defence said in a Friday intelligence update that it was "likely" nine helicopters were destroyed at Berdyansk, with five more taken out in Luhansk.
The US delivered a limited number of the long-range ballistic missiles to support the war-torn nation's defense efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this development in an address this week, where he thanked the US for its continued military support.
Zelenskyy said the missiles had already been used on the battlefield and were executed "very accurately," per The AP.