On 30th August Ukraine released a video showing its MiG-29 fighter jet firing the US AGM-88 missile, dispelling any doubts about how Kyiv uses this weapon on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian Air Force has released a video showing for the first time ever US-supplied AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles being fired from their MiG-29 jets. They seem to be fired in pairs from the inboard pylons where R-27 AAM would otherwise be carried.
Earlier, many evidences of Ukraine using anti-radiation missiles AGM-88 was announced by the Russian side. However, the media was wondering about how Ukraine used American missiles in a Russian fighter jet.
Simply because, AGM-88 is a US-made anti-radiation missile according to Western standards, this weapon is not compatible with any fighter aircraft that Ukraine owns. To use Ameerican or European missiles on any USSR or Russian-origin fighter you need to change code of fighter aircraft.
The fact that the AGM-88 missile was launched from the MiG-29 fighter surprised many people because the process of upgrading the MiG-29 to match this weapon was basically extremely difficult.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian Air Force has released video showing for the first time ever US-supplied AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles being fired from their MiG-29 jets.
They seem to be fired in pairs from the inboard pylons where R-27 AAM would otherwise be carried. pic.twitter.com/o0OMTiwnow
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 30, 2022
The Ukrainian Defense Journal itself has admitted that it is almost impossible to upgrade the country’s fighters to be compatible with the AGM-88 missile in the current Ukraine conditions. However, somehow it seems that the AGM-88 missile has outstanding features, making it “deployable” from the old Soviet standard aircraft, without too many changes.
AirData magazine said that it is likely that the AGM-88 missile was launched from the MiG-29 fighter by the “blind launch” method. That is, the pilot just fires the missile without knowing what its target is.
The AGM-88 missile is smart enough to find and track the enemy’s radar waves, then program itself to fly straight to the radar source. This causes the Ukrainian MiG-29, to simply carry out the task of “carrying” the AGM-88 missile to a pre-designated launch area.
Unlike previous anti-radiation missiles, AGM-88 has the ability to track and remember the direction of the radar source. Even when the source is turned off, the AGM-88 missile still finds the correct coordinates of the original source to attack.
Thus, unless the radar crew turns off the transmitter and moves the battlefield, once the AGM-88 missile catches the radar wave, it will “lock on” and attack the target to the end.
Earlier, much evidence of Ukraine using anti-radiation missiles from the United States to attack the most modern radar systems of Russia, appeared in the media. However, neither Ukraine nor the US at that time did not specify the type of anti-radiation missile used.
However, AGM-88 is currently the only anti-radiation missile in service with the US military. What makes the media wonder is how Ukraine can deploy this weapon, when the AGM-88 can certainly only be launched from an air-launched device, while Ukraine has no aircraft. Fit.