“There is a sense they’re avoiding being shot at by staying in their friendly territory and using their weapons capabilities” at longer range.
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That’s the whole point of over-the-horizon weapons. Why would you get closer than you need?
There are a lot of problems working as the Russians do.
One is that they are mainly limited to static or relatively static targets (on the ground). They cant use short reaction time or short travel time weapons, they cant use on-aircraft targeting like FLIR pods, they cant use laser-guided weapons systems for interdiction, and rarely for tactical use, etc. US aircraft can be on call to immediately attack transient targets like a ferry, a truck column, a train.
Another is inability to drop massive quantities of munitions. Under the conditions the US strives to create one US aircraft can drop many times as much explosive on a target (or a lot of targets) using JDAMs from above 15,000 feet over a target than a Russian can from 150 km away. And a 2000lb JDAM is much cheaper than any missile.
Etc etc. It is a very big deal.