Photo: Ukraine Air Force
Ukraine’s Air Force needs to launch modern U.S.-made missiles from Soviet-era fighter jets in combat. The surprise solution to the disconnect? iPad.
Apple tablets are reportedly giving the vintage aircraft the ability to control a variety of weapon systems supplied by Western countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
iPad goes into combat in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Air Force gave The Telegraph a video of one of its pilots using an iPad in the cockpit of a Soviet Su-27 fighter.
The tablets are reportedly being used to control U.S. AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles against Russian radar systems. They also give pilots control of French Hammer precision-guided bombs and U.K. Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, William LaPlante, said last week:
“They [the Ukrainians] have a lot of the Russian and Soviet-era aircraft. 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.”
Old and new
The Su-27 isn’t a decrepit relic of a bygone past. True, it went into service in 1985, but it’s a twin-engine supersonic, super-maneuverable fighter that’s still in service in Russia, China and elsewhere.
But it wasn’t designed to control missiles and bombs supplied by a range of countries supporting Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion. Still, updating older aircraft with modern electronics is a standard practice. The process doesn’t usually involve simply strapping an iPad into the cockpit, though.
Going into air combat in Ukraine is an extreme example of the versatility and capability of iPad.