Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Gents,
Amazingly, reading Mr. Dorr's books about attack aircraft A-1 Skyraider and A-7 Corsair II, found that US aviation people had always defined Soviet Su-25 attack plane as BAI aircraft. Working with former Su-25 pilot, I cannot describe his sarcastic smile. "Those Yanks", he told me, "Still don't understand that there is no difference between BAI and CAS when the battlefield is presenting by the steppes, plains or mountains, and there is no such thing like BAI in the forests (Vietnam) or urban/neighbourhood environment (Afghan, Iraq, etc). In other words, BAI is something when the FAC/FAC(A) is not compulsory, and CAS, in turn, is not existing without FAC, either ground or aloft. With all due respect for "kill boxes" planning, if there are no FACs there, this is just AI, no mention for "battlefield"; but if FAC, even single and distant, is there, all you can do for the troops under is CAS. Of course Su-25 is the CAS aircraft, what is different from USAF A-10, for example, is that her ordnance is far from precise; US Army and NATO tanks had never been the main targets for Frogfoot, as no one of Soviet generals could imagine the Soviet CAS aircraft nailing NATO tanks to stop them when the Soviets tanks outnumbered them with the ratio at least 4:1 in Europe. Su-25 is clearly anti-infantry plane, a kind of a gunship able to survive the density of small-caliber AAA and/or Stingers over the European battlefields, where the helos or AC-130-type gunships couldn't last for long."
Yes, this guy is probably right, since Su-25 is just the next generation of the Il-2 of WWII, another anti-infantry airplane. She was called "Stormovik" by Western then-allies, but this word is not the nickname of a definite airplane, this is a name for any "attack aircraft" in Russian, thus Frogfoot is also "stormovik". But in our parlance, attack airplane is namely anti-infantry aircraft and not anti-tank one. Moreover, the term CAS in Russian is presented by the "NPP" acronym, which does mean "Direct Support Of The Infantry" in this language (Непосредственная Поддержка Пехоты), so the "BAI" in Russian practice even doesn't exist.
Amazingly, reading Mr. Dorr's books about attack aircraft A-1 Skyraider and A-7 Corsair II, found that US aviation people had always defined Soviet Su-25 attack plane as BAI aircraft. Working with former Su-25 pilot, I cannot describe his sarcastic smile. "Those Yanks", he told me, "Still don't understand that there is no difference between BAI and CAS when the battlefield is presenting by the steppes, plains or mountains, and there is no such thing like BAI in the forests (Vietnam) or urban/neighbourhood environment (Afghan, Iraq, etc). In other words, BAI is something when the FAC/FAC(A) is not compulsory, and CAS, in turn, is not existing without FAC, either ground or aloft. With all due respect for "kill boxes" planning, if there are no FACs there, this is just AI, no mention for "battlefield"; but if FAC, even single and distant, is there, all you can do for the troops under is CAS. Of course Su-25 is the CAS aircraft, what is different from USAF A-10, for example, is that her ordnance is far from precise; US Army and NATO tanks had never been the main targets for Frogfoot, as no one of Soviet generals could imagine the Soviet CAS aircraft nailing NATO tanks to stop them when the Soviets tanks outnumbered them with the ratio at least 4:1 in Europe. Su-25 is clearly anti-infantry plane, a kind of a gunship able to survive the density of small-caliber AAA and/or Stingers over the European battlefields, where the helos or AC-130-type gunships couldn't last for long."
Yes, this guy is probably right, since Su-25 is just the next generation of the Il-2 of WWII, another anti-infantry airplane. She was called "Stormovik" by Western then-allies, but this word is not the nickname of a definite airplane, this is a name for any "attack aircraft" in Russian, thus Frogfoot is also "stormovik". But in our parlance, attack airplane is namely anti-infantry aircraft and not anti-tank one. Moreover, the term CAS in Russian is presented by the "NPP" acronym, which does mean "Direct Support Of The Infantry" in this language (Непосредственная Поддержка Пехоты), so the "BAI" in Russian practice even doesn't exist.