[Goose]

Ukraine is doing a reasonable job of defending itself on its own.  Wouldn't NATA air forces gaining control of the air plus the existing ground forces of Ukraine be easily enough to defeat Russia?

I am not making a point but asking a real question.

IMO NATO air forces (read USAF and a bit of Poland and Norway) operating in conjunction with the current Ukrainian military could do the job. BUT, to do that, the US will execute a DEAD plan. We aren't going to send our aircraft into the teeth of the Russian IADS. That means attacking inside Russia, and that could be a complete game changer in a bad way. Russia may just start a general war if the USAF destroys radar and anti-aircraft missile sites inside Russia. We would also attack Russian airfields. Big escalation that will have consequences.

FWIW, the Ukraine is willing to fight Russia with F-16s and not require air superiority/supremacy. They know that without 5 gen assets they can't get that anyway, and will just have to accept the losses. At the end of the day, it wouldn't surprise me to see some "hot pursuit" into Russian airspace :-). The US simply won't accept the limitations Ukraine must.

Working out a coordinated plan with Ukraine will take some doing too.

[Goose]

Ukraine is doing a reasonable job of defending itself on its own.  Wouldn't NATA air forces gaining control of the air plus the existing ground forces of Ukraine be easily enough to defeat Russia?

I am not making a point but asking a real question.

IMO NATO air forces (read USAF and a bit of Poland and Norway) operating in conjunction with the current Ukrainian military could do the job. BUT, to do that, the US will execute a DEAD plan. We aren't going to send our aircraft into the teeth of the Russian IADS. That means attacking inside Russia, and that could be a complete game changer in a bad way. Russia may just start a general war if the USAF destroys radar and anti-aircraft missile sites inside Russia. We would also attack Russian airfields. Big escalation that will have consequences.

FWIW, the Ukraine is willing to fight Russia with F-16s and not require air superiority/supremacy. They know that without 5 gen assets they can't get that anyway, and will just have to accept the losses. At the end of the day, it wouldn't surprise me to see some "hot pursuit" into Russian airspace :-). The US simply won't accept the limitations Ukraine must.

Working out a coordinated plan with Ukraine will take some doing too.