FILE PHOTO: Russian Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighters fire missiles during the Aviadarts competition outside Ryazan. © Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Reuters: What happened to Russia's Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence had predicted a blistering assault by Moscow that would quickly mobilize the vast Russian air power that its military assembled in order to dominate Ukraine's skies.
But the first six days have confounded those expectations and instead seen Moscow act far more delicately with its air power, so much so that U.S. officials can't exactly explain what's driving Russia's apparent risk-averse behavior.
"They're not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots," a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Read more ....
Update #1: Why hasn’t Russia mobilised its vast air power against Ukraine? (Al Jazeera)
Update #2: Five Reasons Why Russian Forces Are Struggling in Ukraine (Defense One)
WNU Editor: The Russian air force is there, and I prefer them to stay hidden wherever they are. Unleashed they would raise the death toll and destruction to an unbelievable level .... far more than what it is today. And if you add in strategic bombers .... you just do not want to go there. That, and probably because of that, is the reason why the air force is being held back (for now).
10 comments:
There's been some unverified reports that a lot of the pilots are refusing to fly sorties.
https://twitter.com/TelegraphWorld/status/1498975679391715328
The Russian airforce is not immune to the same morale issues that the army is experiencing.
NEWS FROM RUSSIA
If you bomb Ukraine, you're committing a war crime and ultimately not only will be trialled but will bring immense shame to your family, and ultimately do a disservice to Russia which I'm sure you love.
Outin has to go.
This was the last straw.
Remove him from office before he drags down your glorious country
The RUS AF doesn’t want to lose aircraft. Very expensive and public, The RUS mil SEAD plan is a joke.
How a network of enablers have helped Russia’s oligarchs hide their wealth abroad -
I B Poster II is a cute 'lil troll. not too brite, but cute in a decrepit sorta way
The Ukrainian air force has been obliterated and Russian land forces are maneuvering around heavy engagements leaving relatively little need for close air support (so far). They're not trying to bomb every power plant, hydro station, and telecomm facility like we do with shock & awe. It's actually funny that this situation confounds our intel officials; that anything less than total war just short circuits their brains.
There are two main reasons the Russian Air Force has not been more involved
1: Ukrainian equipment is almost identical in shape and colors to Russian making it much harder to distinguish from 2000 feet.
2: The Primary reason though is the same as why Russia hadn't committed more ground forces. Russia is holding them in reserve in case NATO decides to get involved with military forces whether troops into western Ukraine or a no fly zone.
There has been way to much propaganda in western media vs actual facts.
I've been wondering about this quite a bit. Strategic bombers aside, you wouldn't need much of them. Decent numbers of air to ground strikes would handle the job much pretty quickly I'd say, at least in terms of ending most forms of any larger pitched battles.
The very large Russian air force had some good success with this in Syria and helped assad turn the tide.
Should be interesting, and scary what the next days hold.
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