The InformNapalm team has received the following information from our insider in occupied Sevastopol:
Recently, we observe a strange pattern: the aircrafts at the military air base in Belbek [on the outskirts of the Crimean city of Sevastopol] perform training flights exclusively in very difficult weather conditions when the lower edge of the clouds is within 150-200 meters and the visibility is about 700 meters. When the weather is good all flights stop.
This information indirectly confirms our assumption set out in the operational summary for January 20, 2015:
We cannot ignore a possibility of using air force by the Russian side. Panic has been spread among the local population of the occupied territory of Donetsk. People are told that the Ukrainian air forces are going to bomb them.
We want to remind you that the Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters seized by the Russians during the occupation of Crimea remain in Belbek. Back in April-June of 2014, military experts warned about such a possibility; however, for some reason that scenario was postponed. Now we are observing the escalation of the situation again.
There is some information that the city of Mariupol can be a possible target of an air attack, although we should not write off other objects as well.
Flights in adverse weather conditions, especially in cloudy conditions, make it difficult to trace the aircrafts from satellites.
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2 Responses to “Insider Information from the Residents of Crimea and Sevastopol”
01/23/2015
harland hurdThe question is; why isn;t the Ukrainian air force practicing in clouds; maybe if they could operate in cloudy weather, they wouldn’t need to be so scared of being shot down?
01/24/2015
DanramAnti-aircraft missile systems like the Russian BUK operate well in both good weather and cloudy weather. So practicing in cloudy weather really isn’t going to do much good.
The best defense against anti-aircraft missile systems like the BUK are anti-radar missiles that can hone in on the launcher’s radar signal and destroy it. When the BUK operator turns on his radar to guide his missile to the target, he then becomes vulnerable to anti-radar missiles such as the US “HARM” missile. In the two Gulf Wars, Iraq’s Russian-built anti-aircraft systems were basically rendered useless because their operators very quickly learned that if they left their radars on for more than a few seconds at a time, US F-4G “Wild Weasels” prowling in the area would quickly send a HARM missile up their butts.
The problem, as far as Ukraine is concerned, is that they don’t currently have this kind of anti-radar capability. These are the kinds of weapons systems that the west needs to start providing to Ukraine. The $64,000 question is whether Barack Obama can manage to work up the courage to give the order. So far, he hasn’t.