Ukrainian Air Force using iPads in the cockpits of its Soviet—era jets

The Ukrainian Air Force is using iPads, or similar tablets in the cockpits of its Soviet-era jets to enable rapid integration of modern Western air-to-ground weapons, according to The WarZone.

This was confirmed by Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Dr. William LaPlante who was speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank’s annual Global Security Forum on April 24, 2024. When asked to provide examples of successful programs that rapidly developed capabilities and got them into the hands of the military, one example he chose was the tablets in Ukrainian fighter cockpits, notes The War Zone.

“There’s also a series of … we call it ‘air-to-ground,’ it’s what we call it euphemistically … think about the aircraft that the Ukrainians have, and not even the F-16s, but they have a lot of the Russian and Soviet-era aircraft, he said. “Working with the Ukrainians, we’ve been able to take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft where it’s basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. And they’re flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him.”