War in Afghanistan [1979-1989]

Dogfights have always attracted attention. Since the First World War, their participants have been considered heroes, stories have been written about nothing, and they have become idols of generations. However, the reality of air combat is much more prosaic. Whatever the motivation of the pilots to fight, there was always a winner on one side and a loser on the other in a crippled or burning plane falling to the ground. This series deals with the struggle from their beginning to the modern age, when the sky is steadily ruled by jet engines.

Gone are the days when battles took place in the clear terrain of meadows, fields or plains, where the generals had everything nicely in sight. Moreover, we live in a time when the actors of military conflict are no longer just states, but many other actors who can play a very important role in battles or wars. Such conflicts carry the adjective "asymmetric".
This week's theme is a very interesting one: Fighting in an unusual environment. This text is, as the name suggests, focused on fighting in the mountains. Not only will the authors of the text explain to you the specifics of such a struggle, they will also present you with two examples from practice and you can find out why the Soviet Union and subsequently the USA did not have it so easy in the mountains…

In the Soviet Air Force, aircraft were abbreviated as the name of the designer and the number. Odd fighters and other even aircraft. The individual variants were distinguished by letters after the designation. However, these were always aircraft with the same design basis. The only exception was the Tu-22M. According to the designation, it might seem that it was a variant of the Tu-22. But it was a completely new design. Why did he bear the name of his predecessor?