Warnings over Russia's new tank Armata

[Mike Abberton]

Re: the Russian air force. It's not just a disparity in airframes, there is also a huge disparity is support forces - AWACs, ELINT, Air Refueling, etc.

If NATO can control the airspace, it could probably deal with being outnumbered, although being outnumbered would seriously hamper their ability to influence a concurrent ground war. If they control the airspace and have numerical superiority, it would be bad news for the OPFOR.

Mike

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Mike Abberton

If NATO can control the airspace, it could probably deal with being outnumbered, although being outnumbered would seriously hamper their ability to influence a concurrent ground war. If they control the airspace and have numerical superiority, it would be bad news for the OPFOR.

Yes. But that is were the Russians are very strong at: denying airspace not by aerial platforms, but ground-based platforms. Those new systems of theirs are beasts, real beasts. And they have SAMs and shoulderpads (and ATGMs) in overwhelming numbers. The latest generation of these are game changers, really, and to me they are an argument why to abandon manned aircraft, for an airframe can only manouver as excessively as the biological body of the pilot still can survive it, even if the plane/drone could pull many more Gs. But it would kill the crew.

Only bad handling and incompetent crews could ruin their value. You may (or may not, I do not know) see that from Iranian or Syrian crews. But most likely not from Russian crews and commanders.