Ukraine Invasion - Please do not post videos showing attacks/similar

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Werewolf said:
And training/flight hours.

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine it was noted that Russian pilots were often woefully under what most armed forces consider the minimum number of flight hours to retain their certification, from memory some of Russia's "elite" pilots were known to be getting less time in the air than the US consider to be the bare minimum to keep up competency for reserve pilots (and that is quite low, something like 6-12 hours a month per type, but the US also makes a lot of use of simulators).
I think it was being noted years ago that whilst Russia has a lot of aircraft, their budget for fuel and maintenance meant they couldn't afford to fly them enough, and that was before any effects of corruption.
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It’s not just pilots too. Another reason that the Russian Air Force may be largely AWOL in this fight as well is the fact that Russia doesn’t have much, if any, experience of maintaining high-intensity air ops. Literally they won’t have the guys trained or who have prior experience of keeping maintenance intensive aircraft going over a prolonged period of time, so consequently they might not have the stocks of spares, tools and equipment in place to keep up the sortie rates they’d need to achieve air superiority, and give Russian ground forces the support they need to advance in places like Bakhmut.
 
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Werewolf said:
Yup.

They might still be "up and running" but likely at a much slower rate than normal (when they should be running faster), and with a higher failure rate as apparently a lot of stuff that was meant to be "vital to the defence of the country" and thus entirely made in Russia was actually reliant on parts that were bought in from outside and relabelled/packaged to hide the fact*, or not hitting the required QC level.
Even if they're still able to source stuff from outside Russia that they need, they're going to be relying on the grey/black market for a lot of it as foreign manufacturers are unlikely to openly be selling it to them, which is always good for actually getting what you ordered, and it being in good condition.


*Some of it is quite basic stuff like precision machined parts that should have been within Russia's ability to make (but cheaper to buy in and keep the change).
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Relying on grey/black market supply chains must introduce the tricky problem of counterfeit microprocessors and components.
It caught out the US iirc, causing the death of a USAF pilot when his ejection seat couldn't work.
 
U.S. National Security Adviser Sullivan: China Has Not Taken Final Decision on Providing Aid to Russia - CNN/ABC
- China Has Not Moved Forward, We Have Not Seen Them Do It
- Consequences Have Been Made Clear to China
- U.S. Is Doing That Clearly and Specifically Behind Closed Doors
- If China Provides Military Assistance to Russia for Ukraine War, It Will Come at Real Costs
- China Has Not Taken Possibility of Providing Lethal Aid to Russia off the Table
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-2-12-23-jake-sullivan-rep/story?id=97468998

*Republican Lawmaker Mccaul: China Is Thinking of Sending in Drones and Other Lethal Weapons - ABC
 
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