Battlefield Ukraine

by James Rosone

  “Yes, Sir!” replied the officer, and he ran off to notify 2nd Armored Division of their new orders.

  *******

  While the “Global Hawk” was notifying NATO forces of the changes in the ground troops moving towards the demarcation line, a French-operated NATO E-3 Sentry AWACS was operating over west Ukraine to monitor changes in air capabilities. Suddenly, it detected the takeoff of 32 Su-34 “Fullbacks” (which are twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter bombers). The Su-34s were notorious and feared in the military world; they were large aircraft that carried a substantial amount of air-to-ground ordinance, perfect for providing air support under heavy enemy fire. The E-3 also detected the takeoff of 23 MiG-31MB “Foxhound” interceptors, all heading towards Ukrainian airspace at supersonic speeds in a standard Russian attack formation.

  In addition to the attack aircraft, the E-3 spotted eight Tu-160 “Blackjack” bombers, coming in swiftly at low altitudes across Belarus towards Polish airspace. When the radar operator saw the Blackjacks, his stomach sank; they were more frightening to him than the fighters. They were a supersonic aircraft, intended to swoop in fast and low and deliver devastating conventional or nuclear attacks. NATO considered them to be a first-strike weapon, like the B-1 Lancer bombers.

  While the group of radar operators began to identify and track all the inbound aircraft, one of the operators announced, “A new group of aircraft has just appeared.”

  The Air Battle Manager, Major Brian Nicodemus, walked over to the young officer and looked at his screen. He immediately saw one, then two, then a total of four groups of 20 Tu-22M “Backfire” bombers, about a hundred miles behind the fighters, moving quickly towards Ukraine. The Backfire was a supersonic, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber, similar to the Blackjack. It also carried a large number of conventional bombs (or up to ten cruise missiles).

  Major Nicodemus balked at the new information. “The Russians are clearly launching a full-out air attack against NATO forces…they’ve caught us completely flat-footed,” he thought.

  Brian immediately began to alert the aircraft that were flying Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over Ukraine. There were four American F-15s armed with air-to-air missiles and six German Euro Fighters that were flying a combat patrol near the Poland, Belarus and Ukraine border. The E-3 immediately began to vector the American fighters towards the group of Fullbacks, since they were closest to them. The German Euro Fighters were vectored to engage the group of Blackjacks that were streaking in quickly from Belarus.

  The French Commander on the E-3 also issued an alert to the two NATO airbases in Ukraine, along with the bases in Poland and Germany. The US had four F-22 Raptors on a five-minute ready-alert in the vicinity of Krakow, along with six F-15s at the Pryluky Airbase and another six Euro Fighters at the Kiev International Airport. In the next five minutes, NATO would have another sixteen aircraft in the air to meet the Russians.

  For their part, the Ukrainian air force also scrambled their own MiGs and Su-27s to join the NATO aircraft. In short order, twelve Ukrainian aircraft would be in the air to help defend their country from what was now clearly a Russian invasion. Fortunately, the Ukrainians had also deployed nearly a dozen SA-10 air defense missile systems around their airbases and the capital of Kiev. These systems immediately began to engage the incoming Russian aircraft with support from the E-3s.

  The key to air combat in the 21st century was the ability of an air force to leverage the immense capability of an AWACs system, like the E-3s. Operating an AWACs allowed the fighters to operate with their search radars off, meaning they emitted no radar emissions, which would normally give their positions away. The AWACs could use their powerful search radars and vector the fighters towards the enemy aircraft, essentially sharing their radar screens with the fighters so they could see what they were seeing.

  What the E-3 did not detect, at least not right away, was the six Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighters that had taken off thirty minutes earlier from deeper within Russia. These aircraft immediately began to head towards the NATO and American E-3’s that were operating in the area. Their objective was to blind NATO and prevent them from coordinating a proper air defense while their Su-34s attacked the American ground forces and the Ukrainian air defense units. The Backfires and Blackjacks were going for the NATO airbases in Poland and Germany, hoping to completely eliminate NATO’s air power, which was their most potent defense.

  As the French E-3 was alerting additional NATO fighters and vectoring in the ones already aloft, one of the radar operators saw a brief blip of an aircraft no less than six miles from their position. His eyes suddenly grew wide as saucers as he suddenly realized that the aircraft that had appeared out of nowhere had just fired two air-to-air missiles at them. There was no time to react, or even to try to evade the missiles.

  As the enemy missiles began to close the distance to the E-3, the pilot immediately began to fire off flares and deploy multiple chaff canisters, in hopes of spoofing the inbound missiles. In less than forty seconds, the two R-73M Archer missiles got within forty-feet of the E-3’s engines and exploded, spraying the area with shrapnel. This metal cloud ripped apart two of the airplanes’ engines and tore chunks from the wings and fuselage. The fires from the explosion quickly found the fuel bladders in the wings and exploded, causing both wings to snap off and forcing the aircraft to begin a steep dive as it started to spin out of control.

  As the first NATO E-3 went down, the second E-3, operated by the American Air Force, immediately took over control of the air battle. A third E-3 was scrambled out of Ramstein Airbase along with additional fighters.

  Four minutes after the first E-3 went down, the US Air Force operator who had assumed control of the battle, Major Tony Giovani saw a similar blip on their radar screen. Just as the blip disappeared, four R-37M Arrow missiles appeared out of nowhere, about 62 miles away from their position.

  Major Giovani immediately began to take evasive maneuvers; he started to steer the aircraft to a lower altitude immediately, to try and lose the missiles in the ground clutter. Tony immediately knew what must have fired those missiles--a Sukhoi Su-57, the Russian version of the American F-22 Raptor. Even while he had his aircraft in a hard pull, he grabbed his radio and contacted his superiors. “Ground Command, Ground Command, this is Watch Tower Two. There is a Sukhoi Su-57 in the air here. They have just launched a set of missiles at me. Performing evasive maneuvers. You need to get the Raptors and the F-15s airborne quickly. Send to my coordinates to engage the Su-57, over!”

  “Watch Tower Two, this is Ground Command. Acknowledged. Currently scrambling additional aircraft to your location,” came the reply.

  “I don’t know that we have much chance of surviving this encounter,” thought Tony, “but maybe I just increased our chances.”

  As he continued to maneuver his E-3 rapidly, the air battle managers in the back of the aircraft also detected three Beriev A-100 Russian-built Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACs) aircraft, which had suddenly turned on their powerful search radars now that the air war had officially started. They would search for the NATO aircraft and then guide the Russian fighters towards them.

  “Lord, help us. I don’t want to die right now,” Major Giovani prayed. “If the last NATO E-3 goes down, then the NATO fighters will have to either fly blind or turn on their own search radars, which will give away their positions to the swarm of enemy aircraft now heading towards them.”

  Following Major Giovani’s coordinates, the American F-15s had successfully taken off and gotten within missile range of the MiG-31s. The F-15 pilots had wanted to go after the Fullbacks, but the MiGs had raced ahead to intercept them.

  The lead F-15 pilot directed his team, “Fire your AMRAAM missiles at the MIGs from maximum range!”

  As sixteen projectiles streaked across the sky towards the MIGs, they left ribbons of smoke and steam behind them. The Russian aircrafts immediately began to take evasive action, but not before firing off their o
wn air-to-air missiles at the Americans. Each MIG discharged three missiles at the F-15s.

  Both Russian and American aircraft began to pop flares and chaff canisters to try to spoof each other’s missiles and do their best to evade them. While the F-15s succeeded in shooting down 11 of the 16 MiGs that they had engaged, all four F-15s were shot down.

  *******

  As the battle in the sky started, a group of Germans in a radar truck were continually adjusting the paths of a Patriot missile battery situated on the military side of the Kiev International Airport; they were attempting to keep aim on the numerous enemy aircraft heading towards them.

  Once they finally received confirmation of hostile intent, the officer on watch, Captain Isaac Krüger, hurriedly ran over to the radar operator. “Hey, Alice, we have authorization to fire,” Isaac blurted out. “I want you to prioritize and engage the enemy aircraft; the most pressing threat at the moment is the Su-34s. I count 24 of those Fullbacks--if we are lucky, we will take them all down.”

  Alice Weber quickly moved to activate one of the four-missile battery pods, and launched all four missiles at the incoming Fullbacks. She then moved to the next battery of missiles and began to launch the next batch of four Patriot II missiles. As she began to activate the third battery, the other radar operator, “Bucky,” announced, “The Backfires just fired off a wave of cruise missiles at us!”

  Captain Krüger, immediately instructed them, “Ok, stop targeting the Fullbacks now. Engage the incoming cruise missiles with all of our remaining missiles. We still have sixteen left, so we should be fine.”

  The mood remained calm; they felt confident in shooting down the incoming fire with their own missiles…until a second wave of cruise missiles appeared on their radar screen.

  Krüger felt nauseous. He knew in that moment that they would not be able to take all of the incoming cruise missiles down. He had technicians at the first two batteries, doing their best to get the next set of missile pods reloaded, but even under the best training exercise, they had not been able to get them up and ready in less than ten minutes. There just wasn’t time.

  Isaac calculated the situation mentally. “The targeting computer now has control of all 24 missiles, and it is going to guide the missiles to the Su-34s and cruise missiles we already locked them on. Well…there’s no reason for us to stay in these vehicles any more, since we are clearly going to be targeted ourselves.”

  Captain Krüger yelled, “Everyone, out! Run to the closest bomb bunker and pray you survive!”

  While his men ran for protection, Isaac chose to stay behind and make sure the missiles functioned as they should. It was the last time his men saw him. The radar and control vehicle was demolished as soon as the second wave of cruise missiles began to pulverize the airport.

  *******

  In less than 20 minutes, all of the NATO fighter aircraft flying over Ukraine were destroyed. The Russian Fullbacks began to focus their attack runs against the Ukrainian air defenses and airbases, especially the Kiev International Airport, where the rest of the NATO alert fighters were stationed and still in the process of taking off. They fired off two waves of twenty missiles each. As the first wave of cruise missiles began to streak across the skies to the runways, the missiles dispersed their cluster munitions. As those began to explode on the runways, large craters were formed, making it impossible for any aircraft to take off or land there. They also managed to destroy several German Euro Fighters that had been in the process of taking off.

  Just as the Russians were beginning to feel cocky, six of the NATO Patriot missiles got into range of the Fullbacks they had been locked on. As the proximity sensors on the missiles were activated, a cloud of shrapnel was released right into the path of the Su-34s, ripping the hulls of those aircraft apart. Debris from the Fullbacks began raining down from the sky. The larger chunks of the wings and tails flew towards the ground at high speeds, impacting violently.

  Two fortunate Fullback pilots had managed to perform evasive maneuvers and escape the path of the incoming Patriot missiles. They pulled their aircraft hard enough that the proximity sensors on the incoming projectiles were never activated. Those missiles streaked right past the Fullbacks, eventually exploding in mini-fireballs and releasing small clouds of shrapnel harmlessly.

  Just before the cruise missiles arrived, two Euro Fighters had succeeded in taking off. Their luck was short-lived though; they were quickly shot down while they desperately tried to gain altitude and get into the fight. Even if another helicopter or plane had attempted to use the cratered runway, the MiGs had the airport blanketed in air cover at that point, preventing any additional aircraft or helicopters from getting airborne.

  Of the 16 Patriot Missiles that had been aimed at the cruise missiles, 12 met their marks. Each time one of the cruise missiles came into range of one of the Patriot missiles, a scattered shotgun-like blast erupted from the Patriot, throwing chunks of metal into the path of the cruise missile. The cruise missiles were ripped apart, creating explosions that were almost beautiful, reminiscent of fireworks.

  Twenty-eight cruise missiles continued unhindered towards the Kiev International Airport. As each one impacted, the sound wave from each blast created a mini-earthquake. Clouds of dust and debris began rising quickly into the air, like the tumultuous edge of a thunderstorm. There wasn’t an aircraft hangar left after that attack.

  Following the two waves of cruise missiles, pairs of Su-34s began to drop the Russian version of 1,000 lbs. JDAMs on the fuel farms, and the dozens of NATO fighters that had been getting ready to fly. NATO engineers had erected dozens of blast walls separating the aircraft, which prevented a single bomb from causing damage to other nearby aircraft. However, the Russians knew this, so they used their guided smart bombs to destroy the remaining NATO aircraft.

  The Fullbacks also targeted the US/NATO Command Center and communications equipment. They hit the temporary lodging facilities, and other military vehicles and positions as they found them. In the span of fifteen minutes, the Kiev International Airport was completely wrecked. Nearly every NATO aircraft and helicopter had been destroyed or severely damaged. Major General Mueller and his deputy, a German Brigadier General, had both been killed along with most of their staff during the attack. Nine hundred US and NATO soldiers had been killed, and nearly three times that number had been wounded.

  In addition to the military loss of life, nearly a thousand civilians had been killed at the airport. Although the Russians had focused on the military side of the airport, several large commercial aircraft were destroyed during the cruise missile attack, causing further death and destruction.

  *******

  While the attack on the international airport was taking place, a small group of MiGs headed towards the Polish border to protect the flight of twenty Backfires as they moved to get in range of two other Polish airbases being used by NATO. Their goal was to damage the Polish airfields where additional NATO aircraft were stationed. This would further inhibit the US/NATO ability to respond to the Russian invasion, and if they were lucky, would disable or destroy additional fighter aircraft. The Su-34s would not be following the Backfire attack like they had in Kiev and Pryluky, so the cruise missiles had to accomplish the job on their own.

  Staff Sergeant Noah Troy was on watch in the radar vehicle of the Patriot battery at Pryluky when the Russian air attack started. He watched nervously as his radar began to track dozens of MiGs and other attack aircraft while they took off from their bases in Russia and started to head towards Ukrainian airspace. “Holy cow, this must be the attack they warned us about,” he thought to himself.

  Noah had a sick feeling in his stomach. He turned to one of the soldiers next to him and ordered, “Go get the lieutenant. She needs to see this now.”

  1st Lieutenant Nichole Mattie was standing not far from the radar vehicle, talking with one of her soldiers who was having a problem with his girlfriend back home. “One of the many duties of being an officer--listening
to your soldiers’ life drama,” she thought.

  While Nichole was in the middle of telling this young kid that there were plenty of fish in the sea, she looked up and saw one of her soldiers exit the radar truck, frantically waving to get her attention.

  “LT! Sergeant Troy needs you in the truck ASAP!” the soldier yelled with a distraught look on his face.

  “Ugh, what the heck is wrong now?” she wondered.

  “I’m on my way,” she responded, and she ended her conversation with the other soldier and began to walk swiftly back to the radar truck.

  “What do you have, Sergeant Troy?” Lieutenant Mattie asked as she closed the door behind her.

  Troy looked up nervously as the lieutenant walked in. “Ma’am. I think the Russians are about to attack. If you look here, see? We are tracking over forty aircraft heading in our direction and a lot more heading towards Kiev. I think we should sound the base alarm,” he said, hoping someone else would agree with his assessment.

  Lieutenant Mattie saw the radar display and the color drained from her face. This was the most Russian aircraft she had ever seen at one time, and she knew it meant only one thing. “Yes, I agree with you. Hit the base alarm, and get the missile pods spun up to engage those aircraft once they cross into Ukrainian airspace. I’ll be back shortly; I’m going to run over to the operations center and let them know what’s going on,” she said as she left Troy to get the battery ready to respond to the threat.

  Sergeant Troy sighed in relief, then reached over and hit the red button that would sound an air raid alarm across the base. Once the siren began to wail, he immediately activated the missile pods and turned them in the direction of the incoming enemy aircraft. “Man, we’ve only been here four days--and now the Russians decide they want to attack?” he thought to himself.