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What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

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Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#3
They are afraid of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system

a very good technology that the Soviet Union developed which punches above its weight in situations like the Ukraine war because the mobile radars are hard to suppress with these methods

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppression_of_Enemy_Air_Defen...

I have seen a huge number of Buks in various conditions in video footage from the war, one of them was scurrying around the 'suburban' areas of Kiev. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the early missile hits on residential buildings were something like this that failed to lock on

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-radiation_missile

Ukraine has a lot of Buks, it has a handful of these too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system

on paper those are better than the Buk but Ukraine doesn't have so many and I think the Buk is a "cheap and cheerful" convivial weapon like the AK-47 that does great when exported.

(Both the Buk and S-300 are a lot like the US Patriot missile system in that they are comprised of a number of mobile units such as command posts, radar, missile launchers, etc. The Buk however has a configuration where the radar and missile launcher are colocated on the same vehicle and I'd guess that configuration works really well under rough conditions with less trained crews.)

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#4
I can only assume they are keeping their powder dry, or working to limit casualties. I saw a video of a lady riding in a car beside a convoy, and then she threw a molotov and the driver sped off. If that were Iraq in 2003, she car probably would have been lit up.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#5

I can only assume they are keeping their powder dry, or working to limit casualties. I saw a video of a lady riding in a car beside a convoy, and then she threw a molotov and the driver sped off. If that were Iraq in 2003, she car probably would have been lit up.

They have been bombing cities. I don't think they are trying to limit casualties.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#6

They are afraid of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system a very good technology that the Soviet Union developed which punches above its weight in situations like the Ukraine war because the mobile radars are hard to suppress with these methods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppression_of_Enemy_Air_Defen... I have seen a huge number of Buks in various conditions in video footage from the war, one of them wa…

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Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Air_Force#2021%E2%80%9...

In terms of numbers according to the Wikipedia article they have about 650 air planes and ~300 helicopter's.

Thats a solid fighting force for a relatively small country.

Russia as lots of tools - missiles and such that are good at destroying buildings.

The problems in that Putin understands that the cities in Ukraine have value. He is trying to take them over with minimal destruction to the buildings at least right now. That way he could move his people with with out needed to rebuild.

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