Has the Ukraine war killed off the ground-attack aircraft?

OLD-FASHIONED AIRPOWER has kept a low profile in the conflict in Ukraine, eclipsed by the kamikaze drones and cruise missiles used by both sides. When the Russian air force appeared to step up its activity inside Ukrainian airspace in September, its losses increased sharply. Close-air support (CAS) aircraft have fared particularly badly, raising questions about the future of these planes and the prospect of sending similar American jets to Ukraine.

CAS aircraft support ground troops and fire upon battlefield targets as they appear, rather than carrying out pre-planned bombing raids. Russia’s Su-25 Frogfoot, for example, is designed to fly low and slow, striking ground targets with cannons, rockets and missiles. It is a direct successor to the Soviet Union’s armoured Ilyushin II-2 Shturmovik, which devastated German Panzer units in the second world war.