For more than a year, Ukraine’s air-defense batteries have held off the Russian air force’s hundreds of modern fighter-bombers. The slim cost-benefit margin of long-range missile strikes has constrained the Russian air campaign. More and more, Russian jets are finding gaps in Ukrainian air-defenses—and flying toward them to lob crude glide-bombs. The Russian air force and navy lost scores of jets trying and failing to roll back these defenses. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat on March 5 claimed the air force shot down one Russian Su-34 while its crew was attempting a glide-bombing run.

Source: Forbes April 23, 2023 15:59 UTC