Just when things were going south for Vlad Putin's military forces in Ukraine, his beleaguered and lacklustre air force faces a new threat — all thanks to Uncle Sam, once again..According to a report in Breaking Defense, the Ukrainian Air Force’s Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters are now armed with a new weapon: American-made AGM-88 High Speed Radiation Missiles (HARM)..While that was announced earlier this month by the US Department of Defense (DoD), figuring out how to hang it off the aircraft and launch it safely had to be rapidly developed, the US Air Force's top officer in Europe says..“It was quite the effort,” said Gen. James Hecker, during a round table at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference this week..“We have some early smart contractors that were able to make this happen. Now, is it as integrated as it is on an F-16? Of course not. So it doesn’t have all the capabilities that it would on an F-16.”.Hecker said it took only "a couple of months" for US defense contractors to make it happen.. Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29. .On the battlefield, Russia is able to thwart the use of HARM missiles by turning off its radars..But that can benefit Ukraine as well, Hecker said..“Even though you don’t get a kinetic kill … you can get local air superiority for a period of time where you can do what you need to do.”.It seems the Ukrainians increasingly are capable of taking out Russian air-defenses, but the Russians are struggling to return the gesture and suppress Ukrainian air-defenses..In August, the US Defense Department confirmed it had provided anti-radiation missiles to Ukraine, days after images were posted on the social media site Telegram which appeared to show fragments of an exploded AGM-88 missiles that had allegedly been used by Ukraine against Russian targets, Breaking Defense reported..“We’ve included a number of anti-radiation missiles that can be fired off of Ukrainian aircraft that can have effects on Russian radars and other things,” Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters..At the time, a major source of discussion was if the US had assisted the Ukrainians with outfitting the Raytheon-made HARM missiles on its Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft or whether a new ground-based launcher had been created..Photos from the website RevengeFor — which is crowdsourcing funds for weapons for Ukraine — showed a MiG 29 Fulcrum outfitted with an AGM-88, with an adapter visible that allows the HARM missile to connect to the aircraft’s LAU-118 pylon, The War Zone reported on Sept. 16.. General James HeckerGeneral James Hecker .The LAU-118/A launcher provides the mechanical and electrical interface between the AGM-88 missile and the launch aircraft, usually the American F-16s or F/A-18s..Through this interface, the HARM can communicate with the aircraft’s radar warning receiver (RWR) and the launch computer of the aircraft..The US used HARM missiles since the 1980s, deploying them to hunt radar sites in Iraq and Yugoslavia. US pilots launch them from F-16s and F/A-18 fighters..Put simply, anti-radiation missiles detect and target the electromagnetic waves being transmitted by radar systems, which is why they’re often referred to as “radar-hunting” missiles, 19fortyfive.com reported..Weapons like the AGM-88, in particular, are capable of hunting these systems down somewhat autonomously. The missiles are sometimes even fired into hostile airspace ahead of American aircraft without specific targets in mind..When air defense systems come online, the already airborne missiles detect the radar waves emitting from the systems and change course to engage. If the system is powered back down, the AGM-88 can still close with the target’s last known location..Conversely, when air-defense system operators are aware HARM missiles or aircraft carrying them are in the area, they may choose to remain powered down, allowing aircraft to operate freely..This is why operations that leverage these types of weapons are often referred to as suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) as well as destruction of enemy air defenses (DEAD)..While missiles require a connection to the aircraft they’re fired from (including the AGM-88) these weapons are capable of functioning with very little aircraft or pilot input, making them capable of being fired by Ukrainian aircraft with fewer modifications than many other missiles..The 13-foot, eight-inch missile weighs in at approximately 800 pounds, including a 143.5-pound high-explosive warhead. Its range has been reported as 30 miles.. A HARM missile is checked on an F-16A HARM missile is checked on an F-16 .Because the AGM-88 itself is rather dated, there's little risk from Russian forces recovering parts of these weapons..The AGM-88 has proven to be very important for aerial operations in Ukraine since the missiles arrived relatively, according to "Juice," a Ukrainian Air Force MiG 29 pilot..Asked about HARM, he described it as “the most advanced weapon for our aviation and extremely effective,” the War Zone reported..With HARM now in the picture and with their apparent compatibility, Ukrainian forces can operate in the skies with more flexibility and execute missions not possible before..Much of the flying is conducted at the extremely low levels (see video) that have become something of a trademark for Ukrainian pilots, even long before the invasion began..Hecker declined to comment on which contractor had integrated the Ukrainian planes with the HARM missiles, asking with a laugh, “If you were that contractor, would you want Russia to know?”.Over the course of the war, the Ukrainians have shot down at least 55 Russian aircraft, mostly using SA-10 and SA-11 surface to air missiles, Hecker said. If losses on the ground are counted, that number rises to more than 60 warplanes, Breaking Defense reported..The Russian air force’s combat losses against Ukraine — a significantly smaller and less resourced force — exemplifies the threat of surface-to-air missiles, which when fielded in large quantities presents a challenge even to the most seasoned air forces..“They’re hard to take down. They really are. They’d be hard for us to take down with fifth-generation stealth aircraft and better aviation,” said Hecker..At the same time, Russia made disastrous tactical failures by failing to make a “concentrated effort” to take down Ukrainian air defenses at the beginning of the conflict..“That would have been our first priority,” he said..The HARMs were part of a US$675 million arms package President Biden had approved for transfer to the government in Kyiv, The Washington Post reported..The military aid also included additional rounds for rocket artillery systems that Ukraine has used against Russian positions hundreds of times, remote-detonated antitank mines and 105mm howitzer cannons and rounds.. F-16 armed with HARM missilesF-16 armed with HARM missiles
