Ukraine's pilots are flying high-risk 'wild weasel' missions first developed in the Vietnam War by the USAF, says defense analyst
Pilots in Ukraine's Soviet-era airforce,
a fraction of the size of Russia's, are using a tactic first developed by the US Air Force to contest the skies above the 600-mile frontline.
Videos in recent months appear to show Ukrainian pilots conducting so-called "wild weasel" missions.
The strategy involves jet pilots luring enemy antiaircraft defenses into targeting them with their radars. The radar waves are then traced back to their source, and the Ukrainian pilots retaliate with weapons like the US-made AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) before the Russians can lock onto them with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
Since mid-2022, the US 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 in the Vietnam War. So-called wild weasel aircraft were tasked with destroying enemy air defense radars to clear the way for attack aircraft to fly through.
The wild weasels had radar receivers to locate enemy air defenses and were initially armed with bombs and later special missiles that could target radar.
The term "wild weasel" originated from Project Wild Weasel. This US Air Force anti-SAM strategy used direct attacks to suppress enemy air defenses,
according to the National Museum of the US Air Force.
These missions, originally called "Project Ferret" — a reference to the small predatory mammal that enters its prey's den to kill it — were renamed Project Wild Weasel so as not to be confused with the code-name "Ferret" that was used during World War II for radar countermeasures bombers.
Adapting Western weapons for use in Ukraine
The difficulty of adapting HARM for Ukraine is due to the incompatibility of old Soviet-era jets, such as the MIG-29 and the Su-27 fighters, with modern Western technology.
Last month, US Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante
told reporters at a Washington, DC, conference that Ukraine had been using iPads in an attempt to make Ukrainian jets compatible with Western weapons.
He described how Ukraine's aging fighter planes could now take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft as they were "basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. They're flying it in conflict like a week after we get it 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, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower & Technology at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told BI.
"While they initially achieved a number of successful kills against Russian SAM systems and radars when first introduced; Russian SAM operators quickly adapted their tactics," Bronk said.
Now, HARM launches serve "a suppressive rather than a destructive purpose."
When launched, "the missiles force Russian SAM operators to turn off their radars and relocate to avoid being hit by them," Bronk said. "This leaves a short window within which other strike systems like HIMARS rockets or Storm Shadow missiles can get through to nearby targets with much less risk of being intercepted by the Russian SAMs."
Awaiting F-16s
While modified Soviet-era fighter jets allow Ukrainians to use HARM missiles, the modifications do not allow Ukrainians to make the most of all their features.
Ukrainian pilots fly 'wild-weasel' missions using US-made AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles, a military analyst told BI.
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Whenever the F-16's get fully committed the Ukrainian's will get a big upgrade on this front,
I worked F-4G "Wild Weasel's" from 91-94 and worked the transition from F-4's to F-16's for that mission.
I hope the Ukrainians wait till they have a decent number online and don't commit them piecemeal. The impact will be greater if they commit them in numbers. They might not have that luxury though...
