Its planes struggle also since the lack of a CAT launch system makes it impossible for them to carry extra fuel thus limiting their range; further, the same limitation makes carrying anything other than a very light bomb load impossible; CAG seems to be limited also as a retuning MiG was allowed to circle until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea. And so on.
They lost a Sukhoi a few days back, too. Read somewhere that the pilots were picked contractors. Another reason perhaps for the small airwing embarked.