Russia ran out of washing machines, they now building Jets from TV remote control
Can't wait for this comment section to be completely rational and non-partisan.
Replacing planes is easy. Replacing pilots not so much.
Welp. I’m sure the people in the comments section are going to have a civil discussion with this
Good analysis. However there is one other factor... Russia is putting a good number of airframe hours into the operations they are conducting. This will shorten the service life of the airplanes and eventually increase the maintenance downtime. Eventually, those airframes will become losses through attrition.
Jesus, this comment section is filled with both pro russian and pro ukrainian bots
Regardless of your thoughts on the war, you gotta admit. Russian and Soviet airframes are absolutely gorgeous machines.
Since WW2 it's rarely been a matter of lacking fighters, it's a lack of trained pilots.
Oh my god, the title is really triggering, the comments section will soon become a chaotic battlefield :)))
Comments are so toxic these days. Lots of stupid people on both sides.
Shovel factory at its finest
Actually, in Russia there is no total military censorship and people rent and post the most shameful files of the Russian army. So, if the plane flew to Russia and crashed in Russia, then you can be 100% sure that photographs will appear on the Internet even before the plane crashed, as happened recently with the IL-76, which crashed due to a technical malfunction of the engine
If it's "damaged but can't be repaired" .. then it isn't "damaged" .. it's "LOST".
You don’t mention a vital component in low supply. Skilled aviators. They sent instructors to the front. If we assume some of the pilots were not in good shape from these aircraft losses then that will also impact their effectiveness.
One of the most interesting things in every video like this or about the Russian-Ukranian war is the amount of bots it attracts. There is no way this isn't targeted trolling and being done for free.
I think the factor you didnt mention that IMO deserve to be mentioned is all those tens of thousands of flight hours that Russia is putting on its current aircraft - especially considering the short life-span of some Russian aircraft like MiG-31s.
A major factor is attrition losses from all the air time these airframes are being subjected to. Many of the current flying planes will be suffering from self inflicted attrition which is basically impossible to estimate.
About 2,800 combat aircraft were left to Ukraine from the USSR. Since 1991, Ukraine has sold $3.5 billion worth of planes, helicopters, aviation equipment and weapons. For all these 33 years, Ukraine has not built or purchased a single military aircraft. An absolutely unique story in the world: how it was possible to screw everything up and not build anything to replace it.
Russians started using insane amounts of glide bombs lately. So no, smaller losses does not equal a good thing for Ukraine. It only means that Russia now switched completely to frontline bombing via plane strikes 50+km from the target. Deep strike missions are done by drones/cruise missiles/ballistic missiles.
@DK-ig8zi