https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-air...00629.html
Not a surprise. These aircraft perform important functions that are becoming more important with the potential F-16 introduction into the war. Russia is actually doing something smart. They are increasing their AWACS operational tempo to train for the day they really need it on-station all the time. Hopefully they will discover they don't have enough airplanes and also don't have enough trained crews.
The Sea of Azov is a moderately big place. We don't know if the Russians are trying a different concept of operations that avoids areas where Ukrainian air defense missiles can reach them. Obviously that would be a smart thing to try. The other possibility is that Russia is putting up a juicy target with the idea their Elint folks can geolocate the Patriot battery before/when it fires. The Russians can then use PGMs to destroy the radar of the battery. They also probably believe the Mainstay can evade the missile if it gets early warning of the launch. If the aircraft is at nearly the maximum range of the Patriot, going low and running away will probably work. I am not sure Russia can pull this off, but they may think they can :-).
UPDATE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-silen...00493.html
Seems to confirm the idea Russia has changed their CONOPS. It appears for now they aren't even operating over the Sea of Azov but instead known "friendly" territory. This will certainly reduce their visibility into Ukraine, possibly enough to make them functionally ineffective. They won't get shot down though :-). FWIW the radar horizon to the ground at 30,000 ft is 184 miles. The direct distance from Krasnodar to Melitopol is 215 miles. This means the A-50 can't see low flying F-16s in one area where Ukraine is trying to advance. Keep in mind however that the range (as published) of a Patriot is about 100 miles. The A-50 can get lots closer to Ukraine over the Sea of Azov and still be perfectly "safe".
Better Article: https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-says-...49400.html
Not a surprise. These aircraft perform important functions that are becoming more important with the potential F-16 introduction into the war. Russia is actually doing something smart. They are increasing their AWACS operational tempo to train for the day they really need it on-station all the time. Hopefully they will discover they don't have enough airplanes and also don't have enough trained crews.
The Sea of Azov is a moderately big place. We don't know if the Russians are trying a different concept of operations that avoids areas where Ukrainian air defense missiles can reach them. Obviously that would be a smart thing to try. The other possibility is that Russia is putting up a juicy target with the idea their Elint folks can geolocate the Patriot battery before/when it fires. The Russians can then use PGMs to destroy the radar of the battery. They also probably believe the Mainstay can evade the missile if it gets early warning of the launch. If the aircraft is at nearly the maximum range of the Patriot, going low and running away will probably work. I am not sure Russia can pull this off, but they may think they can :-).
UPDATE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-silen...00493.html
Seems to confirm the idea Russia has changed their CONOPS. It appears for now they aren't even operating over the Sea of Azov but instead known "friendly" territory. This will certainly reduce their visibility into Ukraine, possibly enough to make them functionally ineffective. They won't get shot down though :-). FWIW the radar horizon to the ground at 30,000 ft is 184 miles. The direct distance from Krasnodar to Melitopol is 215 miles. This means the A-50 can't see low flying F-16s in one area where Ukraine is trying to advance. Keep in mind however that the range (as published) of a Patriot is about 100 miles. The A-50 can get lots closer to Ukraine over the Sea of Azov and still be perfectly "safe".
Better Article: https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-says-...49400.html