Those decoy balloons that have been reported are almost certainly only there to get radars up and running that can then be localized by satellite or airborne SIGINT.
I guess if UA shoots them down, that's $50 worth of balloon, paper and foil vs $100,000+ of missile, also a good deal.
But I don't think that's their primary purpose, just an occasional bonus.
So that would be three uses I can think of... get enemy air defence to reveal itself plus possibly waste a missile or ammo firing at it, but friendly radar could track them and get an idea of wind direction and speed for artillery precision...
If everyone is already saying that over 75% of Ukrsohitstans died from artillery, what is the role of military aviation in today's way of warfare ?
And if everyone said the US is a force for good?
Russian airpower essentially exterminates Ukrainian airpower as it gets airborne and hits targets deep inside the Ukraine that their other artillery options cannot reach.
Russia has never been as air power centric as the west, the fact that they are being careful is normal... just the same as the navy and army are being careful too... it is a careful war.
Russia benefits from air power and navy support but it comes down to an army operation which makes sense.
And that story about "stealth" and other bullshit also smoked a big Serbian sausage in the case of the F-117 aircraft. And it is about a conflict of low intensity with a small number of deployed American aircraft. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that aviation is one big myth.
The west is very aircraft focussed, but airpower alone is unlikely to win a war... starting a war or killing people... yeah... great way to fight countries without getting your hand dirty... Libya for instance.
Kosovo showed that airpower alone was useless... you run out of targets and without ground forces it is a stalemate so you have to trick the enemies allies into thinking they can be part of the solution.
Firstly jungle warfare is VERY difficult. Secondly. NVA infantry are OUTSTANDING soldiers. Vietnamese people are smart, hardworking and have balls. Vietnam defeated first the USA then fought China to a draw in a land war after defeating the Khmer Rouge. (ok that last one was easy) but wow, first the USA and then China? Don't *uck with Vietnam.
America will say it was about communism but it was actually about colonialism... the French treated Vietnam like shit and then the Japs kicked them out and were not better and then the French came back. The Vietnamese finally kicked the French out and the Americans arrived and it took a while but they kicked them out along with their allies... Australia and New Zealand and Canada included... and then dealt to the Chinese...
I can give Russia no more then a charitable D- on interdiction. Its been a failure, lets admit it. The failure of their interdiction efforts have cost thousands of Russian boys and allowed this war to keep stretching on. If they had even achieved a B+ I suspect the AFU would have collapsed by now.
If Russia was as evil as the US why would I support them and wish them well?
Do those gun teleport around if entire fúcking airforce can't take them out? They fly above them FFS...
Funny the expectations of air power... how long did the US fight in Afghanistan... surely after 20 years of airpower total control all the enemy will be dead, all their vehicles and support networks destroyed...
The problem is that even though the orcs are nazis and evil what they are not is stupid.
It is rather easy to put a tarp over anything you are hauling on the back of a truck... in fact false truck trailer bodies can probably be fabricated to hide almost anything... which means if you want to stop them you have to destroy every truck and train heading east... which is a terrible waste of ammo.
Oddly enough the failure of the VKS has cost both thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives. Honestly if they are gonna fight like this close down Sukhoi and mig. Just build more strategic missile carriers. and variants that also act as arsenal planes with AWACS radars that can blow anything out of the sky.
PD and the doomers... don't like your work... pathetic.
The VKS and Russian Navy have done their jobs and killed more nazis than the west ever has.
The west would rather help the nazis... and MiG and Sukhoi are divisions of OAK and are going to continue to make planes the west will fear for a very long time.