WAR in Ukraine, Putin approves initiation of special military operation (Part 1)

Politics
1

Putin has made a public announcement that he has authorized a special military operation in Ukraine. He stated that conflict with Ukrainian forces was inevitable. He also threatened any nation who would seek to intervene would face consequences that they had never seen before.

Ukraine has closed it’s airspace.

[Russia-Ukraine: Russia’s Putin declares ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine : LIVE UPDATES](https://You really think a trained KGB officer, who has his GRU poison individuals with radioactive materials and nerve agents is worried about body bag images?)

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Yep…and it was predictable.

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Dude on CBS just ducked as a fighter flew by

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Whose fighter?

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Hope the Ukrainians fighters got off the ground.

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That’s gonna be an issue with this conflict. Identifying aircraft. Both sides depend heavily on Su-27s and MiG-29s. The Sukhois for air superiority and the MiG-29s in escort and limited ground attack roles.

But that part will be morbidly fascinating in a way. Two air forces filled wifh high ranking officers who served as junior officers in the Soviet Air Force and Air Defense forces during the late Cold War.

Russia has a big advantage thanks to their legacy assets being modernized in the early and mid 00s, but it will be interesting to see if Ukraine’s Air Force can use their assets somewhat effectively.

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Assume Russian but maybe Ukrainian?

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It’s complicated because both sides share a ton of Soviet aircraft.

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Ukrainian fighters are famous for flying as low to the ground as possible.

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Didn’t see it, was still dark but was no doubt military. Unmistakable sound

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Russia doesn’t need to fly low.

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They have probably been setting flight line alert. But it will be a one sided fight. Russia has them outnumbered 15-20 to 1.

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Their SEAD missions would be very low level. Have to take out Ukraine’s ADA systems.

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What are the Ukrainian’s air defense capabilities?

I would assume they have S-300s, since a ton of them were made before the Soviet Union fell and Ukraine absorbed most Soviet non nuclear assets left on their territory after the collapse.

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Ukraine should have went heavy on drone swarms, much cheaper than airframes.

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I looked at it a while ago. I don’t think Russia left them any of the best systems. They were expensive to maintain.

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Unfortunately without a visual on markings it is all an assumption as to who’s jet it was. This is one case where having the ability to ID a bird by sound won’t work.

And before anyone gets all technical on me…lol
Yes one can identify what jet is flying by sound once you learn the difference. I remember in “A” school when a jet would fly over our instructors would invariably say “That is an A4, F4, F18, etc”

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True, but even Moldova has a few S-300s. I figure if Moldova could keep them somewhat combat effective then Ukraine should be able to.

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In this case they are both flying the same aircraft.

I just checked their ADA systems they have a bunch of older S-300 systems. Of course the Russians know every weakness of those systems.

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Was thinking along those lines but no booms were heard. Only was only a single bird, usually they have CAP flying those missions or decoys to draw fire.