Codenamed ‘Juice’, a Ukrainian fighter pilot gave an interview to local media about how Ukraine has managed to stop Russia from dominating the airspace with humble MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters despite Russia having planes like Su-57.. The Sukhoi Su-57 is widely considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet, sharing the 5th-gen fighter jet technology with aircrafts like the United State’s F-22 and F-35 and China’s J20 Chengdu.
Not just the Su-57, Russia has other advanced fighter jets in its fleet, all-indigenous, including the Su-30 and Su-35 flanker aircrafts. The question then arises, why hasn’t the Russia’s air superiority helped the former USSR megapower win the war against Ukraine, who is using old aircrafts like MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets?
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It’s been more than a month since Russia first invaded Ukraine in a sign of aggression against Ukraine’s partnership with NATO. While everyone was anticipating resistance on the ground from Ukraine’s side, Russia’s superior airpower could have helped Russia enter deep into Ukraine pretty quick.
Now, a Ukrainian Air Force pilot going by his call sign ‘Juice’ reveals why, despite having stronger air force, Russia hasn’t managed to go past Ukraine air defence. “I think ground air defenses are much more capable against them. They have a lot of kills of cruise missiles every day. Drones are also a great problem for us, but I think it’s a much bigger problem for them, our Bayraktars are much more capable than their UAVs,” says Juice.
Juice says that large-scale high-intensity conflict scenarios learnt from the US Air Force during the ‘Clear Sky’ drill in 2018 hosted by Ukraine helped the UAF a lot. MiG-29s and Su-27s of Ukraine sparred with the F-15s United States, who replicated the tactics and performance of Russian Su-30 and Su-35S Flanker fighters.
- What’s your superpower?
- I’m Ukrainian! #CloseTheSky#ProtectUАSky #PlanesForUkraine pic.twitter.com/lDuXGCrCvp— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) March 23, 2022
Although the F-15s are more modern than MiGs, Ukrainian pilots were “sometimes pretty successful, just using our flexibility and creation of non-standard decisions,” Juice recalled.
Also, the Ukrainian pilots, trained with NATO countries have got a much better understanding of a fighter pilot mindset that helps them defeat Russian tactics, keeping the Russian forces at bay as one of the strongest countries is not able to dominate Ukraine’s airspace.
Having said that, the sheer number of Russian Air Force’s fighter jets is a big problem for the Ukraine and can turn the tide against them in no time. “Sometimes they’re just trying to exhaust us,” Juice said, “flying near the border to get us to scramble, just to exhaust our manpower with these fuc***g stupid night flights.”
#mute
