Russian air force tactics
The emergence of new air defence capabilities in Ukraine has driven Russia’s air force to act much more cautiously.
Until 2022, the Ukrainian air defence consisted of old Soviet Buk-M1 medium-range systems (45-50 km) and a small number of S-300 long-range systems (100-120 km). Though the Russian Ministry of Defence announced the annihilation of Ukrainian air defence only two days into the war, most of these systems remained operational. Of course, the Buk was hopelessly outdated by the start of the invasion and could have been suppressed by modern electronic warfare systems, but either there were no such systems or Russian pilots did not rely on them, because they did not dare to fly next to the Buks.
The large number of Stinger man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) near the frontline (also known as the Line of Contact, LOC) has made it difficult for Russian aircraft to even cross this line. Stingers can fire at altitudes up to 4 km and at ranges up to 6 km, so one would have to cross the LOC at altitudes of at least 5 km, where an aircraft can already be detected by conventional SAM radars at maximum range. The radar detection range is usually twice the SAM’s maximum firing distance.