Russia Isn’t Dominating Ukraine’s Airspace Despite Distinct Advantages – Why Not?

Video Above: Ukrainian Warfare Tactics Derail Russians

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The Russians have enough long-range, road-mobile Surface-to-Air Missile systems to cover almost the entire country of Ukraine, a scenario which raises significant unanswered questions as to why Russia has not been able to achieve air superiority.

Russian Surface-to-Air Missile Systems

“Almost all of Ukraine can be covered by at least one and usually more than one surface-to-air missile system. That presents a conundrum for any Air Force that would be wanting to get pilots up in the air to conduct missions,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters March 9, according to a DoD transcript.

Russian S-400 air defenses, in service since 2007, have been continuously modernized with digital networking, high-speed computing and multi-frequency radar capability. This has generated an atmosphere such that state-owned Russian media reports have in recent years consistently said their air defenses could detect and destroy even stealth aircraft.

This claim, regularly repeated in the Russian media, is seriously questioned by many who are familiar with advanced stealth technologies now being built. 

Detecting that an aircraft of some kind may simply “be there” in the skies above is a lot different than actually being able to target and destroy it. Nonetheless, Ukraine is not known to operate any stealth fighters or 5th-generation air assets, and Kirby was clear that the existence of overlapping Russian air defenses may well be influencing Ukraine’s willingness to fly pilots above them.