The Ukrainian Air Force has published a short video talk with a pilot operating a MiG-29 fighter aircraft from a forward airfield. "There are enough of such forward operating airfields in our country so we can effectively carry out our tasks," says Oleksandr in the interview.
While Ukraine has seen bad weather in recent days, with rain-, snowfalls, and fog over the past weeks, the deterioration of weather conditions, his aircraft is "ready to take off in a matter of minutes" to depart for a combat mission.
Read more: Ukrainian Air Force Shows MiG-29 Performing Unexpected Role on the Battlefield (Video)
The fighter featured in the video is equipped with R-27 and R-73 air-to-air missiles of Soviet standard. The Ukrainian ace uses them for destruction of aerial targets, including cruise missiles and Shahed-type loitering munitions launched by the russian forces on Ukrainian cities.
Apart from those, Oleksandr and his comrades use HARM anti-radar missiles and GBU-62 (JDAM-ER) guided bombs, provided by Ukraine's Western partners. To use those, the Ukrainian MiG-29 underwent an adaptation.
"My combat experience began with the first days of the full-scale invasion [by russia]. I used to shoot down cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, strike enemy targets on the ground … destroy radar equipment, cover allied attack aircraft, and attack ground targets with GBU-62," Oleksandr says. For a reminder, earlier Defense Express explained what kind of unexpected role Ukrainian MiG-29s sometimes have to perform on the battlefield.
The pilot mentions his colleagues who went abroad to master operating the F-16 multirole aircraft, and he hopes for them to return soon, and "not empty-handed" but with a variety of powerful new weapons. Oleksandr asserts that the current arsenal of air-launched weapons is "physically and morally very outdated." He also thinks an AWACS airborne early warning and control system would be of great help to fight back the russian aircraft in the sky.
Read more: U.S. Seems to Have Started Making FrankenSAM Systems with AIM-9M Missiles in Ukraine
