Modern fighters are more important for Ukraine than attack aircraft. This is the way Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov answered to the recent suggestion that Ukraine needs attack aircraft and A-10 Thunderbolt in particular.
The other day Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview to the Voice of America that he would like to see this type of aircraft in Ukraine as he that the intensity of arms supplies is not enough to gain decisive advantage over the russian forces. Specifically, he mentioned that the Ukrainian army needs not F-16 fighters but attack aircraft, such as American A-10 Thunderbolt or AH64 Apache helicopters etc.
Read more: Ukrainian Pilots in the US: Why It's Not About F-16 But A-10 or Maybe Even More Interesting Options
The other day both Ukrainian and US officials revealed that two Ukrainian pilots arrived in the United States for a training and a potential assessment of their compatibility on "various types of aircraft" which makes it all the more interesting that they came to the only US air base teaching how to operate A-10 Thunderbolt.
However, even in Ukraine, there is split opinion on what type of aircraft is the most suitable. Defense minister Reznikov said Ukrainian top priority right now is air defense:
"And an aircraft is a platform and an element of air defense in the first place," he said in an interview to Liga.Net. "As a platform, it has three things: first, reconnaissance systems <...>; then, avionics, or the systems designed to operate the platform, engage in combat and exchange data with surveillance systems; and the third are the weapons"
The minister compares Ukrainian primary fighter MiG-29 with its detection range of 60 km and combat engage range 30 km to the russian Su-35 – 300 km detection and 120 km engage respectively.
"That's why we need jets as air defense assets capable of spotting an enemy aircraft in the air and defeat it, or take down a cruise/ballistic missile and if needed, launch a strike against ground targets – depots, command posts, bases etc," Reznikov added, as quoted by Liga.Net.
The minister said his opinion on current Ukrainian needs was based on discussions with the General Staff and Mykola Oleshchuk, the Commander of the Air Force of Ukraine. Back in August 2022, when the topic of A-10 supply was first brought up, the Air Force put a damper on further discussion by saying the A-10 Thunderbolt is risky to use in conditions of dense russian air defenses.
"What is an A-10 Thunderbolt? It's a heavy flying fortress that can bring down fire on tank columns. But tank columns have long stopped since the russians tried back in the day. This aircraft cannot see far and is too slow. There are many of them in the US, but they don't war anymore. They are old, lack spare parts and impossible to maintain. Back in March I discussed the A-10 with the Americans and got a reply: 'This slow fortress cannot defy swift russian aircraft'," Reznikov explained.
On a note from Defense Express, A-10 Thunderbolt II definitely has advantages over its conditional Soviet counterpart Su-25 attack aircraft which is being successfully used by Ukrainian pilots every day despite russian air defenses.
In comparison, A-10 Thunderbolt II has an entire arsenal of high-precision weapons: AGM-65 Maverick missiles with a range of fire 30 km and "fire-and-forget" guidance, JDAM bombs, and of course, the famous Brrrt – 30mm GAU-8/A Gatling gun that can fire 3,900 rounds a minute.
It is also relatively cheap and simple to maintain, and has no big requirements for runways, capable of taking off from advance airfields.
Still, when it comes to the aircraft question, Reznikov says, the Air Force of Ukraine already has a list of requirements which suit best for a multirole fighter, and a vision: Ukraine will have one or two main "birds" supplied from several countries, supported by a few other types of modern aircraft.
Read more: A-10 Thunderbolt II and Su-25 Comparison and Survivability
