Military Model Scene

Title: Rooks in Afghanistan, Vol1
Author: Andrey Korotkov
Publisher: Helion & Co
ISBN: 978-1-804510-25-4

Sukhoi Su-25 in the Afghanistan War, 1981-1985, number 42 in the Asia @ War series from Helion & Co. A 72-page soft-cover book, with the usual section of colour artwork and maps in the middle.
This first volume presents a level of detail on the development and operations of the Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft when it was brought into service and put into action even before the initial testing regime had been completed. I hadn't read before about the Soviet air force having removed any dedicated ground attack aircraft from their inventory, and like some Western countries, thinking that the age of the missile had made such equipment obsolete in the event of a war with NATO. That war never happened, but when they got involved in Afghanistan they had to change their stance and bring a specialist ground support aircraft into service, in this case the Su-25. This tells the story of the development of the aircraft and the lessons that aircrew and their engineers had to learn 'in the field'. When used in theatre, there were a number of lessons learnt even when the capabilities of the aircraft seemed to work well. However, the conditions to operate the aircraft were not the easiest. Within the book there are plenty of personal accounts from pilots and engineers, talking about combat operations and how the poor living conditions they had to endure made for a difficult time for them. The armour protection to vital parts of the airframe helped so that pilots could get their damaged aircraft back for a safe landing. In addition to that damage caused by AAA weapons, the use of MANPADS (Man portable air defence systems) were a growing threat. The story develops as the number of aircraft and units were deployed to Afghanistan.
There is plenty to discover in this one, and it even includes the story of how the Rook was chosen as a symbol for the Su-25 operations, despite the official restrictions put in the way. Among the archive images that accompany the text there are names of places which many more recent Coalition veterans will recognise, as airfields at Kandahar and Bagram were used by the Russian forces, and year later were the same bases used by Western forces. While this volume covers the first half of the story, we can look forward to volume 2, which will take on the next half, between 1985 and 1989, when the regular operations of the Su-25 by frontline units in Afghanistan will be told.
Thanks to Helion & Co for the review copy.

Robin