Posted on 07/24/2025 5:21:29 AM PDT by whyilovetexas111
Russia’s Su-35 “Super Flanker” is touted as the pinnacle of its 4th-generation fighters, a highly maneuverable jet meant to rival the best in the West. However, the aircraft is based on a Cold War design and suffers from a fatal flaw: its outdated radar system is comparable to 1980s U.S. tech and lacks key modern features.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalsecurityjournal.org ...
The US has gone through the F22, the F35 and is building the next gen fighter now. And this thing is getting shot down by F16s.
That does not bode well for Russia.
They only have about 100 left.
At some point Russia is going to run out of aircraft, drones, Chechens and North Koreans. Then what?
It’s like all things Russian, TOO BIG....................
The age of jets being manned by humans is coming to an end... You can pretty much do it all without humans, so why bother spending millions training people to fly complicated jets when you can just hire some teenager or high school kid in Nevada to fly them remotely.
Then they shoot Vlad in the head and blame it all on him... His strange fascination with recreating the iron curtain has been a costly endeavor for Russia in terms of blood and money.
“TOO BIG”
Is that what she said?
Amongst other things, I’m an engineer/mathematician/physicist — not an aerospace engineer though. Even I can tell the SU-35 has the radar cross section of a brick with wings. I mean literally a brick. Easy to spot. The F-22 on the other hand has the radar cross section of a bee. Literally the F-22’s radar cross section is that of a bug.
.
“That does not bode well for Russia.”
The Russian Federation can convert the natural gas the EU refuses to buy and that can’t be sent to China to make nitric acid and explosives.
That makes for a simply massive Russian Federation ability to make explosives cheaply.
WIKI
The Ostwald process is a chemical process used for making nitric acid (HNO3). The Ostwald process is a mainstay of the modern chemical industry, and it provides the main raw material for the most common type of fertilizer production. Historically and practically, the Ostwald process is closely associated with the Haber process, which provides the requisite raw material, ammonia (NH3). This method is preferred over other methods of nitric acid production, in that it is less expensive and more efficient.
NH3 + 2O2 → H2O + HNO3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostwald_process
The Haber process can be combined with steam reforming to produce ammonia with just three chemical inputs: water, natural gas, and atmospheric nitrogen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_production
Mmmmm-Kay. Not sure what that has to do with not being able to put a decent jet into the air…but OK.
What makes this worse for Russia is, they can't make good on these losses. Russian production in aicraft, tanks and ships are all so low they cannot replace or keep up with losses.
Ukraine can make up losses with Western aid. Western weapons are proving they are more effective and survivable than their Russian counterparts consistently.
Putting a few captured Bradleys and M1 Abrams on display in Moscow for PR value does not make up for this.
At least the Russians have the benefit of seeing what does not work.
How certain are we, for example, that various of our aircraft would not be shot down by an S-400 or Chinese equivalent (as part of an integrated, functioning air defense system)? Our confidence comes from defense contractors who are no more trustworthy than pharmaceutical companies.
Same applies to the jets. The F-14 could track and lock on to a target I believe 45 miles away. The AIM-9 version at that time was effective at a range between 1-20 miles so the pilot did not actually need to physically see their target to shoot it down. Imagine what the F-16 an older design than the SU-35 can carry today. The aircraft is just the pistol that fires the new ammo. Munitions is where we have the world beat, for now.
“Russian production in aicraft, tanks and ships are all so low they cannot replace or keep up with losses.”
Putting aside ships (surface ships being of dubious value to Russia these days), the vast majority of news reports and congressional testimony say the exact opposite.
**
At some point Russia is going to run out of aircraft, drones, Chechens and North Koreans. Then what?**
**Then they shoot Vlad in the head and blame it all on him... His strange fascination with recreating the iron curtain has been a costly endeavor for Russia in terms of blood and money.**
Recreating the iron curtain-there’s others that think the same way.
Our tech has been tested against the best Russia and China have. Do not think for one minute the Iranians are ignorant Bedouins. They can run those systems as efficiently as a Russian or Chinese operator.
“radar cross section”
A plane can be spotted from above as it flies above the ground. The ground color varies, but the plane underbelly color can’t.
The F-22 can fly through clouds to hide, but that ability doesn’t happen every day.
Planes and drones can often be seen from the ground.
A contrail could be created in front of the front line. The plane or drone painted sky blue interrupting the view of a white contrail can be spotted.
On partly cloudy days, the clouds may be a few thousand feet up. Stealth planes and drones can be spotted as they move under blue sky and white cloud. The drones can be somewhat transparent, but the F-22 can’t be.
The plane also makes noise. It can be heard even if it can’t be seen in the clouds. The drone I hear occasionally in my neighborhood is very noisy.
At night, fireworks style explosions created by artillery shells might enable an aircraft to be detected as it blocks the view of an ember momentarily.
Good points.
But remember the F-22 is old tech for the US. 20 years old in fact. Our new stealth fighter/bomber addresses these issues. And no, I’m not talking the F-35. This is well known in some military blogs I follow.
And the Russians have not caught up with even the F-22. Also they have a serious production/maintenance problem.
Don’t get me started about China’s flying brick.
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