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Rexia2022 t1_j6mw9qo wrote

Jets is going to be really difficult because of high training requirements to be useful in the way Ukraine wants. Russia has the fighters but still can't use them because their pilots simply aren't well trained enough to pull off SEAD/DEAD, so if they use them they just get obliterated by Ukrainian AA.

Ukraine won't be able to take control of it's skies either if it can't run SEAD/DEAD missions and the training requirement is extremely steep. Like, we need to get them training now so maybe they can do this next year, and that's assuming they learn as quickly on the jets as they did on the HIMARs.

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lordderplythethird t1_j6n0hgz wrote

It's more complex than that. Russia has no credible ability to perform SEAD/DEAD. Their main anti-rad missile is the KH-31, which has 3 single frequency seekers. If a radar uses frequency hopping like any semi modern radar does, the KH-31 will lose the target completely. Worse yet, only way to swap out which frequency seeker is installed, is to send the missile to the factory for replacement.

There's a newer variant that has a multifrequency seeker, but there's not believed to be many at all, given Russia's historical disinterest in SEAD/DEAD

The west has historically had very little in terms of air defenses, because their fighter fleets serve as their air defenses. As such, Russia just never prioritized SEAD/DEAD, and it shows.

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