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Who are they going to shoot down? There's practically no aircraft in the sky. The Russian method of war is not to rubbleise like NATO does. Time and again in W

Who are they going to shoot down? There's practically no aircraft in the sky. The Russian method of war is not to rubbleise like NATO does. Time and again in WW2 the lesson was do not bomb and destroy cities, it turns the destroyed buildings into an urban warfare playground. So no aircraft to shoot down and no cities to bomb means very little need for an air force. Of course, NATO could test my theory by sending over a few squadrons of F35s and see if the Russian Air Force makes any moves against them.

cyanydeez 5y ago
Uavs attack high value targets. Why would you not do that first.
somewhereoutth 5y ago
Except of course that rubbleising is precisely the Russian strategy, now that collapse/regime change due to lightning strikes has failed. They have no other strategy at this point. Probably they aren't too bothered by ground equipment and manpower losses, they have plenty to spare. Ukraine (and indeed NATO if it comes to that) needs be ready to industrialise the destruction of Russian armour and more pertinently artillery. One drone strike is great, but this must be happening at scale.
newsclues 5y ago
Russian doctrine is to rubbleize but with artillery and unguided rockets.
aldanor 5y ago
Precisely. There's no resistance in the air, and Ukrainian air defense is almost non-existent, having suffered lots of damage on day 1. So, there's barely any need for fighters. Note also that Russia tends to bring in lots of mobile air defense units to support the air from the ground (unlike US which usually relies more on fighter jets for the same purpose). Then, if the point was to carpet-bomb and annihilate the entire territory, NATO-style, it would have been done already. Destroying singled out targets like munition depots or teletowers doesn't require engaging more than a few jets here and there. It seems like helicopters seem to be heavily relied upon (in providing mobility, recon, convoy support, etc) - but that's a different story.
csee 5y ago
How can you say this is not their method of war after Chechnya and Aleppo? You simply haven't been paying attention at all. It is their only method of war if it starts to drag out and they need to break will. They have been doing it already all throughout Ukraine at a confined scale (many well documented cases) using artillery, just not air. The question is whether they're going to ramp up to full-on Grozny/Aleppo in the coming weeks as they get more desperate. My guess is yes given that they have no other playbook. Here is one of the many examples: https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1498940319211130881 https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1498940319211130881
- hatware 5y ago
  Did you live through Chechnya and Aleppo? Or are you just repeating whatever history has been written?
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    These are not contested scenarios. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999–2000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999–2000) Plenty of photo and video evidence is available.
xdennis 5y ago
> The Russian method of war is not to rubbleise like NATO does. Bombing everything is the Russian way. That's why they're carpet bombing kindergartens, apartment blocks, hospitals, &c. They're just not doing it from the sky because they don't have the ability to.
- eternalban 5y ago
  Throw rug bombing, maybe, but carpet bombing? That would have multiple city blocks in ruble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_bombing

cyanydeez 5y ago

Uavs attack high value targets. Why would you not do that first.

somewhereoutth 5y ago

Except of course that rubbleising is precisely the Russian strategy, now that collapse/regime change due to lightning strikes has failed. They have no other strategy at this point. Probably they aren't too bothered by ground equipment and manpower losses, they have plenty to spare. Ukraine (and indeed NATO if it comes to that) needs be ready to industrialise the destruction of Russian armour and more pertinently artillery. One drone strike is great, but this must be happening at scale.

newsclues 5y ago

Russian doctrine is to rubbleize but with artillery and unguided rockets.

aldanor 5y ago

Precisely. There's no resistance in the air, and Ukrainian air defense is almost non-existent, having suffered lots of damage on day 1. So, there's barely any need for fighters. Note also that Russia tends to bring in lots of mobile air defense units to support the air from the ground (unlike US which usually relies more on fighter jets for the same purpose). Then, if the point was to carpet-bomb and annihilate the entire territory, NATO-style, it would have been done already. Destroying singled out targets like munition depots or teletowers doesn't require engaging more than a few jets here and there. It seems like helicopters seem to be heavily relied upon (in providing mobility, recon, convoy support, etc) - but that's a different story.

csee 5y ago

How can you say this is not their method of war after Chechnya and Aleppo? You simply haven't been paying attention at all. It is their only method of war if it starts to drag out and they need to break will. They have been doing it already all throughout Ukraine at a confined scale (many well documented cases) using artillery, just not air. The question is whether they're going to ramp up to full-on Grozny/Aleppo in the coming weeks as they get more desperate. My guess is yes given that they have no other playbook. Here is one of the many examples: https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1498940319211130881 https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1498940319211130881

hatware 5y ago
Did you live through Chechnya and Aleppo? Or are you just repeating whatever history has been written?
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  These are not contested scenarios. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999–2000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999–2000) Plenty of photo and video evidence is available.

xdennis 5y ago

> The Russian method of war is not to rubbleise like NATO does. Bombing everything is the Russian way. That's why they're carpet bombing kindergartens, apartment blocks, hospitals, &c. They're just not doing it from the sky because they don't have the ability to.

eternalban 5y ago
Throw rug bombing, maybe, but carpet bombing? That would have multiple city blocks in ruble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_bombing