Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Ukrainian MiG-29 Losses Spotlight Superiority of Russia's Air Force

Reports about Ukrainian forces losing hundreds of men and dozens of armored vehicles in ill-fated military escapades have become a somewhat common occurrence since the beginning of the so-called “counteroffensive” in June.
Sputnik
Recently, Russian forces operating in the Ukrainian conflict zone have put a significant dent in the Kiev regime’s air force by shooting down some 17 Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter aircraft in a span of only 10 days.
The fact that Ukraine had so many of these aircraft available should not come as a surprise, says retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, former analyst for the US Department of Defense.
According to her, Kiev not only had approximately 50 MiG-29s remaining from the 1980s, but it was also expected to receive some of the 33 MiG-29s promised by Slovakia and Poland - former members of the Warsaw Pact. (At that time, Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia) Both countries had operated this type of aircraft during the Cold War.

“Ukraine is the place where these older aircraft go - much as other western and NATO military weaponry and materials - for their last stand,” Kwiatkowski remarked. “Polish and Slovakian air forces are flying and purchasing Western jets as part of NATO, no one wants 1970s fighters these days.”

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She noted that, despite all the upgrades a MiG-29 can get nowadays, it is still “basic 1970s technology” at its core, and “cannot match or evade modern surveillance and air defense from either ground or air.”

“Even last year's Western reporting acknowledged the superior standoff abilities of the Russians' MiG-31BM fighter jet in taking down Ukrainian jets, and other Ukrainian airborne platforms - operating and targeting beyond the range of Ukrainian ground and air forces,” Kwiatkowski said. “As noted before, and observed throughout this conflict, the Ukrainian offensive capabilities are not and have not been operated in an effective combined arms, land-sea-air-surveillance integrated way.”

Praising the current state of Russia’s air defense and intelligence systems that made such triumphs over Ukrainian combat aircraft possible, Kwiatkowski suggested that this was made possible by a combination of two factors.

“The combination of Western sanctions driving Russia, and other countries, to develop native defense production and repair capabilities, and to develop trade connections with the rest of the world outside of the US and Europe, must be added to the actual practice gained against US and NATO surveillance, command and control, naval operations, and Western weapons systems that have surged into Ukraine in the past several years,” she explained.

As Kwiatkowski put it, “both of these US and NATO driven situations in a sense, have backfired by making Russia stronger, more capable, and more confident,” and this development did not go unnoticed by the rest of the world.

“The grand US-NATO strategy in Ukraine, as the Rand study of a few years ago put forth, was to weaken Russia, as a country, as an economy, as a military, and as a global leader. If so, that strategy appears to have been wholly counterproductive,” she empahsized.

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