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1. clacke: inhibited exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Tuesday, 09-Jan-2024 23:21:51 EST clacke: inhibited exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛

   Short thread:

   
   

   ♲ @jalefkowit@octodon.social: Longtime Readers™ will know that one of my persistent interests since the current phase of the war in Ukraine broke out is why and how the Russian air force (the VKS) failed to establish air superiority over Ukraine in February-March 2022. Like a lot of observers, I expected them to sweep Ukrainian forces from the skies pretty rapidly. That didn't happen.

   The clearest account of those opening days and weeks I've found so far is in this RUSI report, from November 2022. It confirms some things I already suspected (that it is basically impossible for non-stealth aircraft to survive long in airspace covered by modern ground-to-air missile systems), while also including some details I had not seen elsewhere. (Ex.: Ukrainian fighters and missile launchers managed to dodge the very first VKS strikes because they received early warning, presumably provided by Western intelligence services, in enough time to disperse to alternate bases.)

   rusi.org/explore-our-research/…

   1. lnxw48a1 (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 00:34:02 EST lnxw48a1

      in reply to
      @clacke I don't know whether Russia has / had this, but the US used to have an air unit specifically tasked with taking down anti-aircraft defenses so other aircraft could perform their missions. This was before stealth aircraft was a known thing, so I don't know whether such units still exist.