(Dan Tri) – US officials reveal how Ukraine controls Western weapons mounted on Soviet-era fighters with incompatible designs.
The Ukrainian army’s Su-27 is fitted with a tablet in the cockpit (Screenshot: Ukrainian Army).
The Ukrainian Air Force is using iPads or tablets in the cockpits of Soviet-era jets to enable rapid integration of modern Western air-to-ground weapons.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense William LaPlante confirmed this information on May 24.
`Think about the planes that Ukraine has, they’re not F-16s, they’re Soviet-era or Russian-made planes. Working with Ukraine, we were able to integrate,` said LaPlante.
Although there are still many questions about how exactly this method works, a video appearing on the internet seems to give some insight into the mechanism of controlling weapons using a tablet.
Accordingly, the video posted by the Ukrainian Air Force shows the inside of a Su-27 equipped with a tablet computer.
On the tablet, information about the navigation map is displayed.
In addition to HARM missiles, Ukraine also uses Soviet-era fighters to drop Western-made JDAM-ER smart bombs or French Hammer bombs.
According to The Drive, Western weapons mounted on the Su-27 can be used against targets with known coordinates, and they are pre-programmed on the flight path before the fighter takes off.
The pilot then flies the plane to the area, drops the weapon, and lets it fly toward the target using a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system.
The disadvantage of this tactic is that fighters will only attack pre-planned targets, reducing the flexibility of air battles.
That is the reason why Ukraine has repeatedly wanted to receive Western fighters, such as the F-16, so that they are compatible with NATO-produced missiles and bombs, bringing greater efficiency.
In addition, it seems that in order to mount Western weapons on fighters such as the MiG-29 or Su-27, Ukraine also needs to adjust the weapon pylons to be compatible with missiles or bombs that are only equipped with
Caroline 
Logan