As we all know, in modern warfare, air force strength is an important factor affecting the outcome of the war.
The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for more than four months since February, but it still fails to let the world see peace. What role did the Russian Aerospace Forces play in this war? What implications does it have for our country?
Russia and Ukraine have been fighting in Eastern Ukraine for four months. Theoretically speaking, the military strength of the two countries is very different. Although Russia is the offensive party, it is fighting a completely asymmetric war.
Under such a situation, the Russian Aerospace Force, as the main force in the confrontation, has suffered heavy losses so far. What is the reason for this?
The Russian Air Force
There is a huge gap in air force strength, but the performance of the Russian Aerospace Force is average
Let us first compare the strength of the Russian and Ukrainian air forces.
The first is the Russian Aerospace Force. It is equipped with 240 MiG-29 fighters; MiG-31 fighters 131; Su-24 fighters 192; Su-25 attack aircraft 192; Su-27, Su- 30. A total of 350 Su-35 fighters; 4125 Su-34 fighter bombers; 66 Tu-22M bombers, 42 Tu-95 bombers, and 415 Tu-160 bombers.
Then there is the Ukrainian Air Force, which is equipped with 43 MiG-29 fighters, 12 Su-24 fighters, 17 Su-25 attack aircraft, and 26 Su-27 fighters.
In comparison, the Russian Air Force has an overwhelming advantage in quantity and quality over the Ukrainian Air Force . However, according to current public information, the Russian army has lost 32 fixed-wing aircraft , 43 helicopters, and 79 drones.
Comparison of the strength of the Russian and Ukrainian air forces
Why did the Russian army suffer so many losses when it launched a surprise attack?
Based on the performance of the Russian Aerospace Force and the analysis of the battlefield situation, there are three main reasons: First, the Russian Aerospace Force appears to be powerful, but in fact it has a low degree of informatization, resulting in lagging behind in tactics and failing to achieve an overwhelming advantage.
Why do you say that?
In modern warfare, the air force is not only used to suppress the opponent's air force, but also cooperates with the battlefield intelligence provided by the army and navy to provide timely and effective support. The current main force in the Russia-Ukraine battlefield is the ground forces. To cooperate with the ground forces, the air and space forces need to share information and data between both parties, which is what we often call the creation of a battlefield data link, similar to the US military's link16 data link system.
However, judging from the current battlefield reports, the Russian army’s battlefield informatization is not excellent. Especially at the communication level, because the Russian army followed the Soviet Union's ERA battlefield information encrypted communication logic, and the Ukrainian army also inherited this system, coupled with NATO countries' information support for Ukraine, the Russian army's communications on the battlefield There was a problem with confidentiality.
Ukrainian Army
Hasn’t the Russian army developed its own battlefield communication system?
Of course, in the early 21st century, the Russian army re-established the digital encryption system "Derwig" . However, due to the easing of relations between Russia and Western countries during this period and the help of Western military communication technology, the system used a lot of imported hardware, which caused problems in terms of confidentiality and maintenance.
The above is due to the insufficient level of battlefield information, which resulted in the Russian Aerospace Forces’ battlefield support being untimely and failing to achieve an overwhelming advantage.
The second reason is that the Russian Aerospace Forces lacks precision-guided weapons , which results in more casualties when attacking ground targets. We found from the main loss models of the Russian Aerospace Forces that the Su-25 ground attack aircraft and the Su-34 fighter-bomber accounted for a larger proportion of losses, with a total loss of 21 aircraft.
Why do ground attacks cause such huge losses?
First of all, Ukraine's air defense system had been completely destroyed by the Russian army at the beginning of the war, so long-range air defense firepower could no longer threaten Russian fighters.Then we will turn our target to NATO. Its weapons and equipment to assist Ukraine include a large number of "Stinger" individual air defense missiles. This type of missile is mainly aimed at medium, low altitude and low speed targets. In terms of ground strikes, the Russian Aerospace Forces lack long-range precision strike weapons, that is, laser-guided bombs, , air-to-ground missiles and other equipment. Why is
missing? The reason is not that they cannot be manufactured, but that the cost of precision strike weapons is relatively high, with a laser-guided bomb or cruise missile costing around one million US dollars. Attacking some low-value targets in the middle of the war was not worth the gain for the not-rich Russian army.
Therefore, when attacking the ground, the Russian Aerospace Forces' attack aircraft and bombers sometimes have to lower their flying altitude. Within the 6,000-meter range of the Stinger anti-aircraft missile, unguided bombs and rockets are mounted to attack, and the battle damage rate is natural. will increase.
The third reason is that the Russian Aerospace Forces deliberately preserve their strength in battle.
Because Ukraine is supported by NATO countries, no one can guarantee whether NATO will participate in the war. Throughout history, during the Kosovo War, NATO used air superiority to bomb Yugoslavia for 78 days without sending ground troops.
In order to prevent third parties from participating in the war, the Russian Aerospace Forces must have sufficient reserves to deter the NATO Air Force from directly launching air strikes against Russia.
Based on the above points of view, the reason why the Russian Aerospace Force failed to achieve an overwhelming advantage against the Ukrainian Air Force due to the huge disparity in strength can be described in four words as "internal and external troubles". The internal factors are backward equipment and insufficient economic strength, and the external factors are NATO's strategy against Russia. Threats prevent it from fully displaying its strength.
What enlightenment does this war have on China?
Since the Russian Aerospace Forces entered the war and has reached the current situation, what enlightenment does it have on the future actual combat of our Air Force?
Judging from the battlefield performance of the Russian Aerospace Forces, its shortcomings lie in backward equipment, poor coordination among multiple services, and external threats. Analyzing these three points, if the Chinese Air Force faces a war in the same environment, what will the actual situation be like?
First, let’s take a look at the overall strength of our country’s air force.
According to statistics from the US "2020 China Military Power Report" , China currently equips a total of about 1,500 third-generation and above fighter aircraft. Currently, three and a half generations of fighter aircraft are used as the main models, among which the four models of J-11B, J-16, J-10 series, and J-15 are the backbone.
The current development direction of the Chinese Air Force is similar to that of the U.S. Air Force, building a multi-purpose, all-weather, information-based air force.
Looking at the ammunition system of the Air Force, it can be said that "a hundred flowers are blooming" in the past two years. The "Feiteng" series of precision guided bombs independently developed by our country has been developed to 8 models, with various yields from 25KG to 1000KG, and there is also a benchmark US JDAM series "Thunder Stone" guided bombs, "Thunder" series of laser-guided bombs, etc. Needless to say, the "Thunderbolt" series of air-to-air missiles is also used by the latest J-20.
So weapons and equipment are not a problem for us, the only thing left is that we are reluctant to use them.
Unlike Russia, our country is relatively generous in military spending. Taking this year's government budget report as an example, China's military budget in 2022 is about 229.5 billion U.S. dollars, and Russia's 2022 military budget is about 62.79 billion U.S. dollars.
A wide variety of Chinese air-to-air weapons
Look at the degree of digitization and informatization of the Chinese Air Force.
According to a 2020 CCTV Military Channel report on a Chinese Air Force exercise: J-10 fighters and Su-30 fighters can share cross-model data. It can be seen from this news that our army already has data link equipment similar to the US military's link6. In air combat, information sharing between various aircraft types can be completed, allowing drones, fighters , and bombers to understand more battlefield conditions, so as to achieve combat goals according to changes.
However, in the face of external threats, the pressure on our Air Force is no less than that of the Russian Aerospace Force.
In the Pacific Rim region around China, the first island chain and the second island chain put tremendous pressure on us. The U.S. military stationed in the Asia-Pacific region remains at around 100,000 all year round, including about 40,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and about 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. It has 5 large air force bases: Yokota Base in Japan, Kadena Base in Okinawa, and Misawa Base; Osan Base and Gunsan Base in South Korea. The base in Changi, Singapore is also under construction...
In the face of these military threats, the Chinese Air Force is currently capable of defending our country's territorial airspace. However, if there is an overseas military confrontation, our Air Force will also need to cooperate with its naval power to deter the surrounding US military.
With the launch of China’s No. 003 aircraft carrier, sea-based aviation has gradually become a force that cannot be underestimated. Compared with Russia's only aircraft carrier "Kuznetsov", which is still "lying" in the shipyard, China's sea-based air power is stronger.
However, facing external threats, the Russian Aerospace Force has long-range strategic bombers, and the Chinese Air Force is slightly insufficient in long-range strategic deterrence. I believe that in the near future, the legendary " H-20" will come out, and the Chinese Air Force will move to a higher level.
The aerial battlefield between Russia and Ukraine is just a microcosm of modern warfare
In addition to fighter jets, armed helicopters, and bombers in the Russia-Ukraine war, drones also played a significant role in the war. Especially in the forward positions of the confrontation between the two armies, there have been cases where the Ukrainian army used drones to drop grenades and small bombs into the opponent's trenches.
On larger battlefields, the Ukrainian army also uses TB-2 drones to conduct reconnaissance and attacks on Russian troops. This low-cost, high-utilization drone is believed to become the protagonist of the future aerial battlefield.
TB-2 UAV
The lack of use of UAVs by the Russian army in the eastern Ukraine battlefield is worthy of our deep thought. Ukraine's frequent use of drones is also worth learning from. If China faces a local war, how to counterattack drones?
In fact, this was reported in the 2020 CCTV-7 military column "Military and Military Zero Distance". Shanghai Tejin Wireless Technology Co., Ltd. developed a counter-UAV equipment. This equipment is called "J -TDOA" mainly achieves countermeasures against drones through five functions: discovery, identification, positioning, monitoring and control.
So domestic private enterprises can still fight against drones. I believe that our military’s anti-drone capabilities should be stronger.
As the saying goes, "When three people are walking together, there must be one teacher." We still have a lot to learn on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Russia can be said to be a "military" country with a strong military strength. Why can't it take advantage in Ukraine?
Is the Russian military a powerful foreign force? Or are the top brass of the Russian army underestimating the enemy? Will the losses of the Russian Aerospace Forces continue to increase?
The war is still ongoing, let's wait and see.
