"We’ve heard rumors of the Russians having designs on Moldova, and massing on the border to the Baltic Nations (Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia) and against Finland. Still, with its force aging, anything other than a lightning-quick operation would be out of the question. The arrival of F-16s from the US has boosted Ukraine’s defenses. Russian military bloggers were lamenting the shooting down of an SU-34 Fullback by an F-16 encounter in October. It is also a way to stir up sentiment against the US. Russian aircraft have a service life of between 2,200 and 2,500 hours. American-built aircraft have much longer service lives of 8,000 flight hours, extended to 12,000 (F-16 Block 70s also come with an expected 12,000 flight hours). But the bottom line is that the Russian VKS can’t afford to suffer this kind of loss for much longer; it will not be able to replace the aircraft it has already lost. Getting smashed in the skies above Ukraine will eventually create some serious problems for Putin."
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Foreign relations of the United StatesForeign relations of Russia21st-century military history of RussiaHistory of Ukraine2020s in Europe
Original Language: English
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Sources
Steve Balestrieri, Russian Air Force Can’t Keep ‘Smashed in the Skies’ over Ukraine", National Security Journal, 24 May 2025
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
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