The inventions introduced to enable the Ukrainian Air Force to use weapons provided by its partners have been drawing much interest since the outbreak of the russian invasion and the unprecedented support to Ukraine's fight against it. And it's especially unique in light of the fact the Ukrainian military has become a mixture of Soviet-type and Western equipment, completely different in nature yet working together through upgrades and adaptations.
Making these polarities interoperable was believed to need a total modernization of equipment, especially aircraft. But in practice, it took ready-made solutions and special pylons-adapters that facilitate pre-launch preparations of the missiles while already in flight. However, those are external upgrades, whereas the modernizations of the cockpit remained obscure, at least until an official video from the Ukrainian airmen brought some insight.
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The footage released by the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade on February 19th, 2024 shows a Ukrainian Su-27 use AGM-88 HARM radar-killer missiles. Notable is how most of the space in the cockpit is occupied by a tablet.
The screen shows a map and some other info too difficult to see from this POV. There's also a specialized satellite navigation device to the right of the tablet, so it's unlikely that both devices are meant to indicate the aircraft's current location, a kind of information redundant to display twice.
When published, the video initially caused confusion and speculation about the role of an ordinary tablet inside the cockpit. A fresh video dated April 24th shows an identical scenario when AGM-88 HARM is being launched by a Su-27:
Although, this time it seems like the tablet is not there:
Then for a moment, we can see that the pilot is simply holding it on his lap.
Turns out, the tablet is actually required for these combat missions, as revealed by William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment at the U.S. Department of Defense.
"Working with the Ukrainians, we’ve been able to take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft where it’s basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. And they’re flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him," LaPlante said, his words quoted by The War Zone.
The journalists of this media also conjecture that the tablet plays the key role in communication with the missile, quite possibly, through the means of wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth. The tablet can also receive data from other sources about the targets and operational conditions.
On the part of Defense Express, if this assumption is correct, then it means engineers managed to create basically a parallel weapon control system using a tablet as the basis, which was immediately integrated into a unified combat data exchange network. Furthermore, it was made with minimal adjustments to the aircraft itself, its on-board systems, etc. Although this decision is hardly perfect and convenient, it is a pragmatic choice since Ukraine does not have the luxury of waiting several years to integrate everything "the right way."
Especially if this "right way" takes an inadequate amount of time, for example, MBDA said it needed 1.5 years to integrate Taurus missiles with F-16 aircraft, despite the fact this jet is already fully digital.
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