British intelligence: russia’s air force ineffective in war with Ukraine

russia's air force in the war with Ukraine proved ineffective, and it could be one of the determining factors in russia's very limited success.

It is stated in a review of British intelligence on the war in Ukraine on June 20.

"In the conflict to date, russia's air force has underperformed. Its failure to consistently deliver air power is likely one of the most important factors behind russia's very limited campaign success. It cannot gain full air superiority and has operated in a risk-adverse style, rarely penetrating deep behind Ukrainian lines," the review noted.

The reasons for this situation are probably similar to ground forces.

"For years, much of russia's air combat training has highly likely been heavily scripted and designed to impress senior officials rather than to develop dynamic initiative amongst aircrews.

While russia has an impressive roster of relatively modern and capable combat jets, the air force has also almost certainly failed to develop the institutional culture and skill-sets required for its personnel to meet russia's aspiration of delivering a more Western-style modern air campaign.

This has led to a greater than planned weight of effort falling to ground troops, who are becoming exhausted; and on advanced cruise missiles, stocks of which are likely running low," said British military intelligence.

Earlier, British Intelligence has reported that russia may have issues replenishing the stockpile of modern weapons and is consistently using Soviet-era missiles and weaponry.

"russia is likely resorting to such inefficient weapon systems because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, while Ukrainian air defenses still deter its tactical aircraft from conducting strikes across much of the country," the June-11 review said.