The Ukrainian Air Force achieved notable successes on the battlefield by shooting down a number of aircraft 10 Russian fighter jets 10 days apartincluding nine advanced fighter-bombers, notably the Sukhoi Su-34 and Sukhoi Su-35 models, as well as a rare Beriev A-50 radar aircraft.
This figure represents a significant loss for Russia, especially considering the limitations of your aerospace industryis currently hit by international sanctions that limit its production capacity to just a few dozen new fighter jets per year.
The rate at which Russia is losing these aircraft is alarmingly highwhich shows a 20-fold disproportion between the losses and the replacement capacity of its air arsenal.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry, with a tone of subtle irony, confirmed the shooting down of the ninth and tenth aircraft this month, both Su-34 models, saying: “Wow, we did it again! And 10 Russian planes have already been destroyed in 10 days!.
The tactics used in these kills have not been fully revealed., raising questions about the tactics used by Ukraine. One option is to distribute U.S.-made Patriot missile launchers to mobile air defense units operating near the front lines. It uses PAC-2 missiles with a range of 90 miles to attack Russian aircraft and then move quickly to avoid retaliation.
The scale of the operation, which resulted in the downing of the A-50 about 120 kilometers away, suggests this the use of longer-range missile systemspossibly a Cold War-era S-200 reactivated by the Ukrainian Air Force from long-lived reserves.
Furthermore, it was observed that Ukraine has repositioned some of its NASAMS surface-to-air missile batteries, with a range of 25 miles, closer to the front. This action follows Russia’s discovery and destruction of a NASAMS launch vehicle near the city of Zaporizhia earlier this week.
The key to Ukraine’s recent success in the air war may lie in this a more aggressive and diverse use of its defense systems, including the sharing of the above and other technologies. However, this approach also carries risks, especially considering that the missiles of the Patriot and NASAMS systems are of American origin and the United States has stopped supplying new ammunition to Ukraine since the end of December.
This interruption is due to this the influence of Republican congressmen with pro-Russian positions, which hindered the approval of new aid. If this situation continues, Ukraine will soon face a shortage of its most effective air defense assets.
On the other hand, Russia’s own strategies and tactical failures have also played a role an important role in increasing their air losses. After a costly victory over Ukrainian resistance in Avdiivka, the Russian army has intensified its offensive against other Ukrainian positions that have also run out of ammunition due to the paralysis in the US Congress.
This situation has encouraged Russian aviation to expand its activities Near the front, they used glide bombs to put pressure on the Ukrainian forces and facilitate the Russian ground advance.
