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Why isn’t Russia using its air power more?

ataraxia

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In the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military strategy was to initially use overwhelming air power to take out key military sites, centers of communication, command and control, etc... this was a key first step before any ground invasion was launched.

In the Ukraine conflict also, Russia has overwhelmingly superior air power. Why is this not being used in the same way? They are just slogging through with the army as best they can, and they’re getting stuck every step of the way. It seems like the really hard way to do this.

Any of our local military strategy experts have any idea why? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.
 
In the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military strategy was to initially use overwhelming air power to take out key military sites, centers of communication, command and control, etc... this was a key first step before any ground invasion was launched.

In the Ukraine conflict also, Russia has overwhelmingly superior air power. Why is this not being used in the same way? They are just slogging through with the army as best they can, and they’re getting stuck every step of the way. It seems like the really hard way to do this.

Any of our local military strategy experts have any idea why? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.

The Russian Air Force is not the United States Air Force. The Russians do not have the munitions, stockpiles, operational capability, and experience to replicate a Desert Storm or shock and awe campaign like the US did.

To give you an idea, the Russians have about 3,500 aircraft total; that includes trainers, support aircraft, and such. The United States Air Force has around 5,800 aircraft alone, and as a whole the United States fields nearly 14,000 aircraft.
 
In the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military strategy was to initially use overwhelming air power to take out key military sites, centers of communication, command and control, etc... this was a key first step before any ground invasion was launched.

In the Ukraine conflict also, Russia has overwhelmingly superior air power. Why is this not being used in the same way? They are just slogging through with the army as best they can, and they’re getting stuck every step of the way. It seems like the really hard way to do this.

Any of our local military strategy experts have any idea why? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.

I don't rightly know, but I would think the large number of Stinger Missiles which have been and will continue to be supplied to Ukraine might have some part to play in their decision.
 
In the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military strategy was to initially use overwhelming air power to take out key military sites, centers of communication, command and control, etc... this was a key first step before any ground invasion was launched.

In the Ukraine conflict also, Russia has overwhelmingly superior air power. Why is this not being used in the same way? They are just slogging through with the army as best they can, and they’re getting stuck every step of the way. It seems like the really hard way to do this.

Any of our local military strategy experts have any idea why? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Stingers. Supposedly they've lost a buttload of planes.
 
The Russian Air Force is not the United States Air Force. The Russians do not have the munitions, stockpiles, operational capability, and experience to replicate a Desert Storm or shock and awe campaign like the US did.

To give you an idea, the Russians have about 3,500 aircraft total; that includes trainers, support aircraft, and such. The United States Air Force has around 5,800 aircraft alone, and as a whole the United States fields nearly 14,000 aircraft.

I have watched videos of Russian MiG fighter bombers doing bombing runs. The pilots needed to slow down and fly relatively low to the ground when they did so to accurately hit their targets. It seems that would make them vulnerable to being hit with a stinger missile, would it not?
 
I have watched videos of Russian MiG fighter bombers doing bombing runs. The pilots needed to slow down and fly relatively low to the ground when they did so to accurately hit their targets. It seems that would make them vulnerable to being hit with a stinger missile, would it not?

Yes it would.

You can mitigate this with smart bombs, but the problem is Russia doesn't have anywhere near the stockpiles of them that the US does. MiG-29s were also not built for ground attack missions, that was only added later on.

It doesn't help that Russian pilots receive fewer flying hours than their NATO counterparts, so they have less time to train on these kinds of missions.
 
Russia's "air power" is for shit. They are second rate if not third rate. If Putin is not careful Ukraine will end up with ground to air laser or heat or optical or satellite guided missiles in its basket of gifts from the west and then they will be knocking them out of the air at will.
 
This is why...




 
Don’t they have stealth technology or the ability to hit accurately from very high altitudes?
 
Don’t they have stealth technology or the ability to hit accurately from very high altitudes?
Their stealth platform is the SU-57 and they have only built four so far.
 
Don’t they have stealth technology or the ability to hit accurately from very high altitudes?

Russia has scarcely any operational stealth aircraft and their supplies of long range air-to-ground precision munitions is very limited.

Hence why they carried out the opening strike on Ukrainian airfields with ballistic missiles.
 
If anything, the increased Russian losses appear to be coming from Russian aircraft forced to fly within range of Ukrainian MANPADS and SHORAD in order to drop their ordinance.

This suggests they have exhausted their immediate supply of long range munitions.
 
Air power is not needed for a cake walk. As the original cake walk strategy fades away, we may yet see Russian air power get involved.
 
In the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military strategy was to initially use overwhelming air power to take out key military sites, centers of communication, command and control, etc... this was a key first step before any ground invasion was launched.

In the Ukraine conflict also, Russia has overwhelmingly superior air power. Why is this not being used in the same way? They are just slogging through with the army as best they can, and they’re getting stuck every step of the way. It seems like the really hard way to do this.

Any of our local military strategy experts have any idea why? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Depends on the weather.
 
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