Half of Putin’s Air Force is Gone

(Telegram channel Fighterbomber shows Russian pilots' crowdfunded equipment)

More than half of the operating aircraft of the Russian Air Force have already been destroyed in Moscow dictator Vladimir Putin’s vicious invasion of Ukraine.

The remainder is in such a sorry state that it is crowdfunding in order to be able to keep killing Ukrainian civilians and children.

Putin’s Air Force Has Been a Ludicrous Failure

Putin’s war of conquest and aggression already exposed the dumbfounding flaws of the once much-feared Russian military.

Many of those failures are believed to be the direct result of the widespread corruption among the Russian elite.

The Russian Air Force has been a particularly impressive failure for western observers as it failed completely in its mission to destroy the Ukrainian Air Force and anti-aircraft capabilities.

For a couple of months now, the Russian commanders only rarely sent fighter and bomber jets into Ukrainian air space, instead firing at Ukrainian targets from a distance.

The courageous resistance of the Ukrainians fully frustrated the invaders.

(Telegram channel Fighterbomber shows Russian pilots’ crowdfunded equipment)

So Much of Russia’s Air Power Has Been Downed

Moscow’s losses of military equipment have been particularly stupefying, already nearing 9,500 units.

These include 212 warplanes, 177 helicopters, 553 drones, 1,390 main battle tanks, 2,405 trucks and jeeps, 3,416 armored personnel carriers, 694 artillery systems, 13 ships, and 303 missile and anti-aircraft systems.

The figures in question may mean more than half of Russia’s operational Air Force has already been destroyed.

While on paper, the Russian military has more than 1,300 aircraft, Russia’s Air Force had over 500 warplanes on active duty; about 390 of those were operational – meaning more than half have been shot down.

The situation with Russia’s trained pilots also seems dire. Last week, Ukraine’s defenders shot down two Russian fighter jets piloted by retired military officers over 63 years of age.

Russia’s fleet of military helicopters was estimated at between 350 and 470 before the Ukraine invasion, meaning more than half of those may also have been destroyed already.

To top it all off, a report by The Daily Mail exposes how Putin’s Air Force actually resorted to crowdfunding among the rapidly impoverishing Russian citizenry in order to meet its needs for basic equipment.

All of this is so Russia can keep mauling Ukraine and killing Ukrainian civilians and children.

Thus, a Russian aviation channel on the Telegram app called Fighterbomber demonstrated some of the 125,000 subscribers of the channel provided funds for the purchase of pilot equipment.

This includes radios, binoculars, pilot helmets, flashlights, visors, and even oxygen masks.

One image on the channel shows a group of Russian pilots posing with crowdfunded gear before an old Soviet Su-25 attack fighter jet.

The grotesque state of Putin’s Air Force is underscored by the fact that one of the pilots is seen in running shoes, apparently lacking military-issue boots.

 

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