[whyilovetexas111]

The F-16 beat this fighter. Russia's planes stink.

[Vermont Lt]

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.

[Sacajaweau]

They only have about 100 left.

[montag813]

At some point Russia is going to run out of aircraft, drones, Chechens and North Koreans. Then what?

[Red Badger]

It’s like all things Russian, TOO BIG....................

[jerod]

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.

[piytar]

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.

[Widget Jr]

Russia losing one of their best to U.S. leftovers (again) is kind of embarrassing (again). Keeping electronics and countermeasures current is as important as performance.

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.

[Stingray51]

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.

[OldGoatCPO]

SU-35’s an outdated design, I suspect it is easily tracked in air to air combat. That said, I suspect this has more to do with munitions than structure. As an example, I have a very old pistol (that I sadly recently lost as it fell off the boat) a hundred years old to be exact. It is (was) a fantastic conceal carry weapon. The new munitions makes it an excellent home security and carry weapon. Its precision construction allows it to handle modern ammo. That ammo is what brought it off the display shelf and back into a holster.

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.

[Brian Griffin]

Russia is now fighting the war by blasting Ukrainian front lines.

Once Ukrainians are spotted, artillery shells can rain down on them.

Really tough structures can be taken out by glide bombs.

The natural gas the EU isn’t buying (and may never buy because it is phasing out hydrocarbon use) can be used to make explosives.

I don’t see how Ukrainian forces can withstand all that.

[Tom Tetroxide]

This means the Ukraine is winning!

[bray]

Communism never succeeds.