British intelligence: the Russian army will not be able to achieve air superiority in the coming months

The Russian military does not have air superiority in the war with Ukraine, and the situation is not likely to change in the next few months. This is stated in a British intelligence report published by the British Ministry of Defense.

Experts say the main reasons for the current situation are poor training of Russian military pilots, an insufficient number of crews and the actions of Ukrainian air defense forces.

On November 3, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny , said that since February 24, the Russian army had lost 278 aircraft in Ukraine. According to him, this is more than two times more than the losses of the USSR in Afghanistan (118 aircraft).

British intelligence notes that it is not yet possible to confirm Zaluzhny’s data on Russian aviation losses in Ukraine. At the same time, experts say that these losses significantly exceed the capabilities of the Russian military industry. “The time required to train qualified pilots also reduces Russia’s ability to rebuild its military aviation capabilities,” the report said.

In early November, The Economist wrote about the difficulties experienced by the Russian army in using attack aircraft in Ukraine. Journalists conclude: the war in Ukraine has shown that, perhaps, attack aircraft are becoming a thing of the past - at least in wars where both opponents have effective air defense forces.