this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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Ukraine's Air Force used F-16 jets as part of its defense against Russia's mass missile and drone attack on Aug. 26, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed during a press conference on Aug. 27.

Russia targeted 15 of Ukraine's 24 oblasts on Aug. 26, launching over 200 missiles and drones as part of the largest-ever aerial attack against Ukraine.

. . .

F-16s gave "a very good result," Zelensky told reporters. "As part of this huge attack, we shot down some missiles and drones with the help of F-16s."

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[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 weeks ago (20 children)

Its russia so it is probably shitty WW2 tech at this point but:

Very curious on the anti-missile capabilities. My understanding is that anything newer than a V2 rocket is just too fast for a jet pilot to actively engage. That is why the "meta" is countermeasures and computerized systems (e.g. patriot missiles) where the human involvement is to approve launch for liability/Geneva Convention purposes.

Drones make perfect sense. But curious if this was a mistranslation, reference to attacking launch sites, or what.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago (16 children)

My understanding is that anything newer than a V2 rocket is just too fast for a jet pilot to actively engage.

Not quite. The part you're referring to with V2 is ballistic missiles, specifically in their terminal (falling on target) stage. It is very hard and expensive, but not impossible, to counter these. However, only a fraction of what russia is shooting at Ukraine is ballistic missiles. Most are cruise missiles (think mini jet airplanes with wings and jet engines that fly at jet airplane speeds). These can be shot down by other jets or land based missiles pretty easily if there are defenses in place. Lastly is the Shehed drones (think mini civilian propeller plane). These are very slow flying and be shot down by land based guns, other propeller planes with guns, or even helicopters with guns. Russia is also shooting a small handful of hypersonic missiles. These are crazy fast flying from beginning to end of their flight. They're really expensive and russia doesn't have many of these.

That is why the “meta” is countermeasures and computerized systems (e.g. patriot missiles) where the human involvement is to approve launch for liability/Geneva Convention purposes.

I think human operators are more to prevent shooting down non-combatant aircraft like commercial airline and civilian planes neither of which are broadcasting Friend or Foe signals to air defense operators.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Ha, that reminds me of what Biden said about the Hypersonic missile technology: "They're almost impossible to defeat."

[–] doodledup@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you mean? Hypersonic are a multitude faster than 1200 km/h.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

What? I said nothing about Hypersonic missile velocity - Biden said that a while ago when Putin was sabre rattling with them.

Biden said it's almost impossible. Not is impossible. Basically it means the U.S. has a way to counter it. I mean, hell, the U.S. has had an anti-ballistic missile system for ages, and Hypersonic missile range between mach 5 and 25.

Like the commenter that replied to me said: once it launches, it really can't change course. If you know the launch direction, you know where it's going. An interceptor at that point just needs to get in its way.

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