Has Russia lost the air battle? Fighter planes are becoming rare and are even absent from the latest bombardments against Ukraine. The reason: a fierce anti-aircraft defense provided in kyiv and a lack of soldiers trained in aerial combat analyzes Pierre Grasser, associate researcher at the SIRICE laboratory at the Sorbonne and specialist in questions relating to Russian defence.
Moscow’s air strategy will be discussed by NATO on Wednesday 12 October during a meeting in Brussels of defense ministers from member countries. Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, even judged the recent Russian strikes as “a sign of weakness” from Moscow, which he says is losing the battle on the ground.
Since the start of the invasion, Russia has made little use of its air force, whereas it was very present in 2015 to fight against the rebels in Syria. Against theUkrainian, “the air offensive was divided into two main parts“, analyzes Pierre Grasser. The first part, from February 24 to March 16, was illustrated by air attacks which “flew over the Ukrainian lines, operating a number of strikes. On this occasion, significant losses were suffered. Up to seven planes on March 5“, details the expert.
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General Jean-Paul Paloméros, former boss of the French Air ForceFrance Info
Then, in a second step, the Russian air force was placed back, “supporting the front lines” or performing strikes “longer spans“. This is explained by the presence of the ground-air systems that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet years. “To face the Russian air force during the first months, that was more than enough“, estimates Pierre Grasset, specifying that after eight months of conflicts “this stock is almost exhausted“.
To cope with a new salvo of bombardments, the Ukrainian president calls on the NATO countries to set up an anti-aircraft shield. Spanish, Norwegian and French ground-to-air systems exist. “A German system is being delivered, it will be delivered in the next few hours and there are Ukrainian soldiers currently in training in Spain“, confides the specialist on franceinfo.
The Russian army certainly suffers from logistical shortcomings. “There is clearly a lack of availability in this Russian aviation, problems with spare parts“, believes General Jean-Paul Paloméros, former boss of the French Air Force. But the greatest difficulty comes from a lack of men. “The equipment, the army will have, it inherited a lot of it from the Soviet period. Spare parts, she will find. The problem is above all the men trained and determined to be engaged“, assures Pierre Grasset.
But since the early stages of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has had difficulty recruiting despite the proposal “strong sales“.”Now, there is the phenomenon of mobilization of conscripts. And that is not going to be a guarantee of quality“, concludes the researcher.