04-10-2024, 10:31 AM
https://www.yahoo.com/news/deadly-drones...57188.html
Zelenskyy is telling it like it is. Drones are an important class of weapons, but they aren't going to come anywhere close to ending the war. Artillery is still Queen of Battles in Ukraine and will be for the foreseeable future. Both the Ukrainian and Russian air forces have failed to perform well in this war. Both sides are handicapped by former Soviet doctrine. Ukraine has the additional handicaps of obsolete aircraft and way too few of them. Ukraine was also the victim of an attack on their air bases that Russia was not, at least initially. Neither side has attempted a "serious" SEAD campaign.
Russia is starting to use their air force to effectively support ground offensives. They have developed their version of the JDAM and are using it. Ukraine has no answer in the air and has to rely on too few western supplied missile systems to deter the Russian air forces. If either side can get their act together, they can use air forces to augment artillery and reduce its importance. It is very unlikely either side can ever generate enough sorties to match the persistent presence of artillery. Ukraine certainly cannot do so with 60 F-16s and Russia seems unable/unwilling to do it with their much larger air force. Russia also has the artillery and required ammunition to make it unnecessary to use that much air power. Ukraine arguably has the tubes, but it does not have and cannot make enough ammunition. Without much more continuing support from the west in the form of artillery ammunition, Ukraine loses. That will be true even if Ukrainian morale holds up until "the end" when they are overrun.
Zelenskyy is telling it like it is. Drones are an important class of weapons, but they aren't going to come anywhere close to ending the war. Artillery is still Queen of Battles in Ukraine and will be for the foreseeable future. Both the Ukrainian and Russian air forces have failed to perform well in this war. Both sides are handicapped by former Soviet doctrine. Ukraine has the additional handicaps of obsolete aircraft and way too few of them. Ukraine was also the victim of an attack on their air bases that Russia was not, at least initially. Neither side has attempted a "serious" SEAD campaign.
Russia is starting to use their air force to effectively support ground offensives. They have developed their version of the JDAM and are using it. Ukraine has no answer in the air and has to rely on too few western supplied missile systems to deter the Russian air forces. If either side can get their act together, they can use air forces to augment artillery and reduce its importance. It is very unlikely either side can ever generate enough sorties to match the persistent presence of artillery. Ukraine certainly cannot do so with 60 F-16s and Russia seems unable/unwilling to do it with their much larger air force. Russia also has the artillery and required ammunition to make it unnecessary to use that much air power. Ukraine arguably has the tubes, but it does not have and cannot make enough ammunition. Without much more continuing support from the west in the form of artillery ammunition, Ukraine loses. That will be true even if Ukrainian morale holds up until "the end" when they are overrun.