Investigating Russia's lack of SEAD/DEAD capabilities over Ukraine

Feature

The Russian military has failed to conduct effective suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) operations in Ukraine and has hit strike operations. Alexander Mladenov explains

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched in the early hours of February 24, 2022, has highlighted many deficiencies in its air arm. The most striking among these is the lack of enough ability to conduct complex combined air operations when facing a peer enemy.

Before the invasion, the Russian Air and Space Forces (RuASF) was considered one of the world’s premier air arms, with a significant fleet of modern, heavyweight tactical fighters such as the Su-30SM, Su-35S and Su-34, with more than 200 examples gathered in theatre.

The RuASF has refrained from undertaking any deep strike operations and the same is true for the air interdiction efforts and the dedicated and systematic SEAD/DEAD operations undertaken in the first four months of war. As of mid-July, all the strike operations conducted by the RuASF tactical jets, such as this Su-34 armed with Kh-29TD TV-guided missiles and equipped with a L173V jammer pod for escort protection, were constrained to the front line and the near-rear areas to knock out tactical targets
The RuASF has refrained from undertaking any deep strike operations and the same is true for the air interdiction efforts and the dedicated and systematic SEAD/DEAD operations undertaken in the first four months of war. As of mid-July, all the strike operations conducted by the RuASF tactical jets, such as this Su-34 armed with Kh-29TD TV-guided missiles and equipped with a L173V jammer pod for escort protection, were constrained to the front line and the near-rear areas to knock out tactical targets Russian MoD

However, in real-world combat these advanced jets and their crews have so far fared unimpressively in the strike role.

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Originally published in Combat Aircraft Journal

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