OneRougeRogue t1_ja8b97w wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:22 PM

Reply to comment by GreenStrong in Anti-war partisans in Belarus claim to have damaged Russian plane | Belarus by Caratteraccio

>The fact that Russia only had nine to start with is absurd.

And there are unofficial reports that have said of the original nine, only four of them were in flyable condition (the rest have been grounded for years either needing repairs, or cannibalized to repair the functioning four planes).

That four is now down to three.

GreenStrong t1_ja8cbfq wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:29 PM

Reasonable amateur's reaction to this comment thirteen months ago:

Bullshit. The Soviet/ Russian army is enormous and fairly sophisticated, they probably have dozens of flying radar platforms

Reasonable amateur's reaction to this comment today:

Bullshit. No way they have four working aircraft. Do you know the value of the scrap metal in those things?

_AutomaticJack_ t1_ja8opd9 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 5:48 PM

It is important to note here, that 4 is basically the minimum you can have and maintain a constant presence. You drop below 4 and your going to have coverage gaps; in not immediately then intermittently... IIRC at 3 you loose coverage at maintenance intervals and at 2 you can't do 24 hr coverage anymore.

sync-centre t1_ja9fi8h wrote on February 27, 2023 at 8:37 PM

Russia is also a large country to cover. They will now have to decide which front they want to patrol.