“We have come as close as possible to an airplane battle, because the last time an airplane hit an airplane, I want to say, it was a hundred years ago, but no, it was at the beginning of the war, and then the airplanes stopped being in contact, there was not even a physical possibility to shoot something down,” Saeima deputy (non-partisan), reserve colonel of the Latvian Army Igors Rajevs said in the TV24 program “About the war in Ukraine with Igor Rajev”.
“Two weeks ago, we talked that the Ukrainians will now buy Gripen aircraft from the Swedes, and the Gripen would be the ideal option for the Ukrainians to start fighting with Russian aircraft,” says I. Rajev.
We saw that in the Sumy region, an F-16 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force launched a missile that flew to a target in Russia. And opposite it was a Russian SU-34, which, upon learning the information, launched R 37/77 missiles, trying to intercept the Ukrainian plane. After launching the missiles, the Ukrainian plane performed its maneuver and retreated, but both planes still used their weapons. These planes are closer to the front line, which means that, whether you like it or not, aircraft battles can take place, concluded I. Rajev.
I. Rajev think that we will experience air battles when “flu” appears in Ukrainians. At the moment, the Ukrainians avoid battles because then they would be in a disadvantageous situation, because the Russians still have superiority in the air, they have more powerful planes with more powerful missiles. According to I. Rajev, “flu” could change this situation.
