usatoday24
The problem of modern wars is that they have ceased to be A geographical matterand the current technological abilities, with the drones and the AI in the lead, are eroding the physical barriers that previously existed. That was clear, for example, with The Spiderweb operation of Ukraine on the Russian air bases. In fact, in the first 18 months of the war, Ukraine lost Very few planes On land in front of the Moscow number, and the last movement predicts an even lower figure.
The mobility war. The Arrival of the F-16 To the Ukrainian Air Force has been accompanied by a parallel effort to create a mobile ecosystem capable of sustaining continuous operations in a scenario where each base is a potential white of aviation and Russian missiles.
Solution? The Ukrainian Foundation Eat Back Alivein cooperation with the state conglomerate Office 61 and with the financial support of the UKRNAfta energy company, recently delivered a set of vehicles specifically designed to provide the F-16 of the necessary logistics flexibility.
Four wheels and fighters. The acquisition It included workshop trucks for armament preparation, crane trucks for missile and pump load, pickups for personnel transport and, above all, a missions planning complex on wheels composed of A 6×6 truck and a habitable towing module, which will allow briefings, plan operations and move quickly where it is required.
With this investment, encrypted in just over 1.2 million dollarsUkraine obtains not only a technical improvement (for example, reducing from a dozen to three the number of operators necessary to assemble ammunition in each plane), but also a Operational advantage in an environment where speed and dispersion are survival synonyms.
The concept of distributed operations. The logic behind this innovation is simple but strategic: prevent Russia from being able to anticipate or destroy on land Western manufacturing fighters. Ukraine had already developed the custom of Alternate air bases and even use highways as impromptu tracks, an inherited practice of the Soviet design to operate in austere environments, but now amplified by the high -tech character of the F-16.
This ability to Move with infrastructure Wheel support converts each road into a potential base and each mission into a concealment game. In this sense, new vehicles are not simple trucks: they represent an adaptive doctrine in which aviation abandons the notion of fixed bases and embraces total mobility as a shield against missile attacks, drones and enemy bombers.
NATO and American learning. The lessons that Ukraine applies in extreme conditions are being observed carefully by the United States and its allies. It We count The other day: the doctrine of AGILE COMBAT EMPLOYMENT (ACE), which seeks to disperse combat aviation in multiple locations Temporary, is nourished directly from the Ukrainian experience. USAF generals They recognize that Ukraine has managed to avoid the mass destruction of his aviation thanks to not taking off or landing in the same place twice in a row, forcing the enemy to waste intelligence and ammunition.
The counterpart of this agility is Logistics demand: Each site needs fuel, ammunition and maintenance equipment that must be compact, transportable and fast to install. The United States Marines itself has started projects To provide air-terrifying trucks on C-130s and lighter and more modular equipment that can accompany squadrons in constant movements, which marks a deep turn in the conception of the air war.
Aviation future. What’s doubt, what is today Test in Ukraine It has global implications. In a eventual confrontation with China in the Pacificno power could guarantee the protection of all its air bases, and mobile dispersion will be the key to survival.
The fighters will not be able to remain in the same airfield without dense anti -aircraft defense; Their operations will be measured in hours or days, with specific deployments for refueling and rearming before returning to main main bases. This will require redesign support equipment lighterto think about new sustaining architectures and maximize land and aerial mobility.
Ukraine, again laboratory. In short, the incorporation of these Ten vehicles At the service of the F-16 it may seem a lower detail in the heat of the war, but embodies a deeper transformation: that of an aviation that can no longer rely on the solidity of its bases and that depends on speed, dispersion and Logistics creativity.
Ukraine thus becomes Test field of a doctrine that west, and in particular the United States, contemplates as essential to survive the high intensity conflicts of the future. Thus, each workshop truck and each rolling planning module are not only metal pieces, but symbols of how war forces to reinvent the way of conceiving today’s aerial power.
Image | “Come Back Alive” Foundation
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