A multi-level air strike was carried out in the evening of April 24 by the Ukrainian Air Force against the Russian Air Defense in Crimea. The operation marks the largest of its kind so far in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The air operation was multi-layered and coordinated by NATO forces, with aircraft operating at the limits of international airspace over the Black Sea, with the aim of suppressing and destroying the Russian air defense capability on the Crimean peninsula in a “classic” SEAD mission/ DEAD.
The Americans undertook reconnaissance tasks through ISR sensors in the west of Crimea and over the Moldova-Ukraine border with naval cooperation aircraft P-8A Poseidon, high-altitude reconnaissance U-2S Dragonlady and reconnaissance drone RQ-4B.
The French, in the south of the peninsula, also carried out overflights with an E-3F flying radar aircraft and an escort of Rafale fighters, while the Italian and British air forces in turn conducted a little further south, electronic data collection (ELINT) operations with G- 550 and RC-135W Rivet Joint respectively, at high altitudes.
Then, launches of ADM-160 MALD missiles were reported, which are used as anti-radar “decoys” to provoke the reaction and activation of enemy anti-aircraft systems, to provide targeting information to friendly aircraft in an air defense suppression and destruction role.
The missiles were detected by the Russian Air Defense over Sevastopol, Simferopol and Kerch.
At the same time, in a video published on “X”, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the conduct of a SEAD mission against Russian anti-aircraft systems in Crimea, publishing operations of Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker aircraft, in full SEAD/DEAD configuration, firing multiple anti-radar missiles AGM-88B HARM.
It seems that Ukraine and NATO are looking for a “relief valve” for the predicament in which their troops have found themselves in the face of the Russian advance on the open fronts in Kherson, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
It is possible that this raid is a preparatory action for an upcoming attack against the Russian forces in Crimea.
