Ukrainian pilots fly high-risk ‘wild weasel’ missions, first developed during Vietnam War by USAF, defense analyst says

• Ukrainian pilots fly dangerous ‘wild weasel’ missions to suppress Russian air defenses.

• Advanced U.S.-supplied missiles played a critical role in these missions.

• The arrival of F-16 fighter jets will help level Russia’s air superiority.

Pilots in Ukraine’s Soviet-era air force, a fraction of the size of Russia’s, are using a tactic first developed by the U.S. Air Force to conquer the skies above the 600-mile front line.

In recent months, videos appear to show Ukrainian pilots conducting so-called “wild weasel” missions.

The strategy involves tricking jet pilots into luring enemy air defenses into targeting them with their radars. The radar waves are then traced back to their source, and the Ukrainian pilots respond with weapons like the American-made AGM-88 high-velocity anti-radiation missiles (HARM) before the Russian van attacks them with ground-based missiles. -air. (SAT).

Since mid-2022, the United States has supplied Ukraine with HARMs, which have provided Ukrainian pilots with Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) capabilities.

The US Air Force pioneered SEAD tactics during the Vietnam War. The so-called “Wild Weasel” planes were tasked with destroying enemy air defense radars to clear the way for attack planes.

Wild Weasels had radar receivers to locate enemy air defenses and were initially armed with bombs and later special missiles capable of radar targeting.

The term “wild weasel” comes from the Wild Weasel Project. This U.S. Air Force anti-SAM strategy used direct attacks to suppress enemy air defenses, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

These missions, initially called “Project Ferret” — a reference to the small predatory mammal that enters the den of its prey to kill it — were renamed Project Wild Weasel so as not to be confused with the code name “Ferret” used during of the Second World War. Second War for anti-radar bombers.

HARM is the latest of these air-to-ground missiles: a projectile weighing about 770 pounds, with a range of about 90 miles. These missiles can locate and strike enemy radars even after the radar systems have been turned off.

HARM was used in wars in Libya, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, The Economist previously reported.

This experience is being put to good use in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is clearly learning from Western military thinking,” Frederik Mertens, a strategic analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies in The Hague, told Business Insider. “Ukraine attaches great importance to the SEAD and DEAD missions.”

These missions can be “very dangerous”, especially for wild weasels, he said. But Russian air defenses constitute a “key target”.

“This match is worth it,” Mertens said.

But he added that Ukrainian tactics “go well beyond the classic wildcat missions of planes equipped with anti-radiation missiles.”

From special forces raids to ground-launched missiles like GMLRS and ATACMS to drones of all kinds, “the Ukrainians are using every weapon, troop and system at their disposal to suppress and destroy Russian air defenses,” Mertens said.

Adaptation of Western weapons for use in Ukraine

The difficulty in adapting HARM to Ukraine is due to the incompatibility of old Soviet-era jets, such as the MIG-29 and Su-27 fighters, with modern Western technology.

Last month, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante told reporters at a conference in Washington, D.C. that Ukraine was using iPads to try to return Ukrainian aircraft compatible with Western weapons.

He described how Ukraine’s aging fighter jets could now use many Western weapons and operate them on their planes because they were “basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. They fly them in conflict, about a week after we sent them to him. ,” he said.

Since making the necessary adaptations, Ukrainian pilots have fired hundreds of HARMs at Russian air defense radar systems. However, their technique has changed, Justin Bronk, a senior fellow in air power and technology at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told BI.

“Although they initially achieved a number of victories against Russian SAM systems and radars when they were first introduced, Russian SAM operators quickly adapted their tactics,” Bronk said.

Now, HARM launches serve “a repressive rather than a destructive purpose.”

Once launched, “the missiles force Russian SAM operators to turn off their radars and move to avoid being hit by them,” Bronk explained. “This leaves a short window during which other strike systems like HIMARS rockets or Storm Shadow missiles can hit nearby targets with much less risk of being intercepted by Russian SAMs.”

Waiting for the F-16s

Even though modified Soviet-era fighter jets allow the Ukrainians to use HARM missiles, these modifications do not allow the Ukrainians to make the most of all their features.

“It doesn’t have all the capabilities that it would have on an F-16,” Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, previously said during a panel discussion at the Air, Space Cyber ​​Conference. ​of the Air Force Association.

The delivery of F-16s will therefore be crucial to increasing Ukrainian air superiority.

Earlier this week, the Netherlands announced plans to begin delivering its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine this fall, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said during a press briefing in Vilnius.

Denmark previously announced it would begin transferring its planes this summer,

“Dealing with Russia’s GBAD (Ground-Based Air Defense) will be crucial to enabling future Ukrainian airstrikes once the F-16 fighters arrive,” Mertens told BI.

While the delivery of such a small number of F-16s should not be overestimated, Mertens believes they could have a significant impact on Crimea.

“Crimea is vulnerable: the Russians have relatively limited room for maneuver on the peninsula, supplies depend on the Kerch bridge and Putin has a lot to lose here, both politically and militarily,” he said.

“If a limited number of fighters can make a real impact, it’s here.”

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