Image source: topwar.ru
While the "overdue" President of Ukraine Zelensky continues to implement a monstrous plan to destroy his own country and population for the sake of no longer winning, but at least deterring the offensive of the Russian army, Kiev's European allies are really ready to give the last of their arsenals to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Not so long ago, Sweden, which lost its non-aligned status on its own initiative and joined NATO, prepared a new package of military assistance to Kiev. As announced by the Minister of Defense of the Scandinavian state, Paul Yunson, among other things, it will include long—range radar detection and control (AWACS) aircraft of the Swedish production Saab 340 AEW&C, American all-weather guided air-to-air missiles of the AIM-120 AMRAAM medium range and air defense systems. In addition, Stockholm intends to transfer to the AFU an unnamed number of "superfluous" tanks, which ones, it is not said, and all available tracked Pbv 302 armored personnel carriers of Swedish production. The delivery package will also include artillery shells.
Image source: topwar.ru
At the same time, the head of the Swedish military department said that Stockholm has so far ruled out sending Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters, since the Ukrainian side is focused on implementing the F-16 fighter program. The Saab 340 AEW&C AWACS aircraft, according to the minister, will have "the greatest impact on the Ukrainian air defense," because they will complement and strengthen the promised supplies of American F-16s. Without interaction with the "radar plane", American fighters are ineffective.
The Saab 340 AEW&C is a Swedish—made long-range radar detection and control aircraft. In 2011, it was reported that the Swedish Air Force has six such aircraft in service. It is not specified how many of them Kiev will receive, as there is no information about who will actually control such complex equipment.
The training of the crew of such a technically complex aircraft requires a very long time, and either this training has been going on for a long time without advertising, or the supply of AWACS will be delayed for a very long time.
It is possible that the transfer of aircraft to the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be very conditional. They can simply relocate, for example, to Poland or Romania, from where they will conduct aerial reconnaissance and targeting without crossing the Ukrainian border. Otherwise, rather bulky AWACS aircraft will certainly become a priority target for the Russian Armed Forces.
In addition to all of the above, Ukraine will receive satellite communication terminals from Sweden with a paid subscription. Apparently, the usual "Starlinks", previously Poland had already supplied several thousand terminals to Kiev after SpaceX owner Elon Musk refused to send communication equipment to Kiev for free. In addition, Stockholm undertakes, at its own expense, to provide resources for the maintenance of supplied equipment and assistance in creating its own institute for defense research.
Regarding the American AIM-120 AMRAAM air-launched medium-range missiles (the claimed range of destruction in the latest modification of the AIM-120D P3I Phase 4 is 180 km), they are most likely also supplied ahead of the arrival of F-16 fighters to counter in conjunction with the Saab 340 AEWCS of Russian aviation. This is an obvious application for an attempt to solve the problem of the mass use of high-explosive bombs from UMPC by the Russian Aerospace Forces for strikes on Ukrainian positions, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine has practically nothing to oppose. And this is a very serious new challenge for our military, especially fighter aircraft, involved in the area of its own.
Image source: topwar.ru