Russian Air Power: An OVERHYPED Threat? 

This was filmed before the recent Sukhoi reveal and yes, unless we want to speculate, we still don't know what the new Sukhoi 'plane' can *actually* do, so I probably wouldn't have asked much about it anyway. I am aware of the editing mistake at 20:41 and 20:50, it happens

Ukraine has confirmed they are not only overhyped but badly lacking in tactical support to ground forces, they simply have no equivalent to NATO air controllers, JTACS etc. especially all the experience the USA has gained in this area in the last 20 years.

That man is so brave to give an interview while piloting a jet in his dress casual uniform!

I'd love to see a reflection of this conversation after the events of Ukraine. Russia's inability to gain air dominance in the first 4 days in amazing.

So to answer the question directly, yes. The Russian Air Force is over hyped. If we've learned anything since they invaded Ukraine, it's that the Russian Air Force is anything but formidable.

I would love a similarly in depth breakdown of the Chinese air power and doctrine

"Russia is not as strong as they think they are and not as weak as it seems from the outside"-Winston Churchill

I'd be interested in a follow-up analysis of how the Russian Aerospace Force has performed in real life now that they've gone and invaded someone else's country.

In light of the past week, it would appear the entire Russian military apparatus was overhyped. If not for nukes they would be another 3rd world military with numbers. Their tactics in Ukraine appear reminiscent of the Battle of Stalingrad where they just absorb damage and keep pouring in high numbers until eventually they overwhelm. Being a soldier in the Russian army is just cannon fodder and bullet absorption.

My mans hair going in and out of stealth mode

Whatever the capabilities, the Su-27 and it's derivatives are damn sexy airplanes.

Interesting to see a follow up of this topic now that Russia is fighting a hot war with this air force. I hope it doesn't become a Ph.D. dissertation on what happened when they tangled with NATO air forces for real.

Absolutely overhyped ! Too much attention on statistical specs and theoretical simulations have created a mystic image of an indestructible Russian Air Force. Logistics, electronics, communications play a role too !

Generally American Military Industrial Companies over hype russian weapons so that US defense gets more funds.

"Implausible deniability" This guy is very articulate, a pleasure to listen to.

Very nice of Justin to conduct the interview while he’s busy flying.

Sad to hear that Mikoyan is "done as a manufacturer." I mean... damn they made some iconic and legendary air frames.

Well, the last 10 or so days leads me to say yes, overhyped. On paper they should have been able to easily end the small Ukrainian Air Force yet here we are with Ukrainian air space still contested and Ukrainian fighters still in the air. I don't know any logical reason Russia would hold that card if it was as capable as most people believed before.

This aged well

OK. This kid wins "Best Background" and thus The Internet today. Pretty cool.

VKS may not have yeh the technology comparable to "the west", but man do they produce some beautiful aircraft.

9:30 The guest had no idea how well that would age.

Very good analysis, especially with the benefit of hindsight from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and how Russia have not been able to achieve air superiority after 1 week.

Best zoom background eva!

The defence industry always overhypes the opposition to get a larger defence budget.

@4:15 "because we would only find that out for sure if there was actually a flashpoint, which we'd rather hope there isn't" .. and just 7 months later we have one and it does seem that Russian air power is indeed far short of expectations.

Based on recent events, definitely overhyped...

People seem to forget Russia is not at war with the US and has its own specific requirements for it's aircraft that may not fit with western ideas.

I watched this all the way through very interesting and made a lot of sense . Your guest explained everything in an easily understandable way !! Looking forward to an assessment of Chinese air power which should be equally interesting .

Wars are not just military, they are also economic and ultimately political. An expensive Russian fixed wing or rotary aircraft has to be fueled and has to land sometime. Rotary are not designed for high altitude operations. So do the math ... an $80k guided portable munition versus a vulnerable multi-million dollar aircraft (not to mention larger and more capable SAMs to be brought in across the western border and based in secure Western Ukraine). Russia had a GDP less than Italy even prior to sanctions and they do not have militarily capable allies as they did in USSR days. There are millions of angry Ukrainians with high morale and high motivation. Throw in the sanctions and you've got a situation where Russian military forces get bled severely and the cost to reconstitute the losses would have severe impacts on the Russian economy. Ultimately, the two factors will be how motivated are Ukrainians safely based in the west, which is more rugged and defendable, to carry on an insurgency. And the other, how willing will NATO be to supply advanced munitions for asymmetrical conflict. Time will tell. But so far this is looking like a debacle with Russian forces indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets destroying a village to save it, and motivating Ukrainians for a decade to despise Russia and seek western ties. I cannot understand the calculus of Putin in conducting the operation, unless he misunderstood the overall mood of Ukraine towards Russian control of the country. There is an excellent documentary on Netflix, Winter on Fire, which covers the events leading up to the 2014 uprising that destroyed Russian influence in their government and as a consequence emboldened the population seeking a European identity. This is the real threat to Putin, and his ego, the evolving identity of everyday Ukrainians as not Russian, but European. But throwing a fit and punishing a civilian population in this manner seems unsophisticated and likely to achieve the opposite effect of intended.

"...have combat experience. Admittedly that combat experience has been mostly flying around dropping unguided munitions on mostly civilian areas, but it's mostly the sort of combat experience a lot of Western air forces have spent the last 10-15 years doing." Does anyone really need lots of fancy planes if they're mostly used for bombing civilian areas?

I've loved reading Justin's contributions to Hush Kit. He's a great speaker (love the concise explanations of technical concepts) and fast becoming an Internet celeb in my eyes! 🙂

This video has aged like a fine wine

That backdrop is wild.

The last few days has shown how well Russia is at bombing buildings.

Looking at the situation now, this video has aged very well.

Damn Bis, you're fast becoming the best german Aviation Magazine for those serious about Military Aviation. Good stuff and it's a welcome fresh breath of air compared to what a lot of others put out. If one compares your work to that of other channels who started out with War Thunder, it's quality stands out even more.

... this man can see the future

This was fascinating. Although we are immersed in the historical period of the early 21st century, its always refreshing to hear from those who strive to analyze today's events as closely as events from the past, cheers!

I watched your videos back in the day of you playing flight simulators, and talking about air combat- and seeing how far you’ve come has been incredible, and I really enjoy the content you put out. Especially with the input from experts in the field and references to legitimate sources of credible information. Great video, and I would love to see another video on China, Iran, N Korea, and NATO. Keep up the good work!

This definitely video aged well considering events over the past 4 months in Ukraine.

So the main problem with Russian jets is there behind in technology which is why India opted for there Su30’s to use French and Israeli avionics.

Russian General "We have made the most superior plane in the world!" Western Observer "How many squadrons do you expect to have?" Russian General "We have made the most superior plane in the world!"

Being good at airshows is all that really matters as we all know.

Wow! Dude called it on VKS deficiencies w multi-role capabilities, lack of precision munitions, and large scale tactical air capabilities!!

8 months later proven correct.

Excellent, very informative. I learned quite a bit that I was unaware of. I'm also a little astonished that your guest was so well-informed, but still appeared really young.

Here is some algorithm food. I really enjoyed it.

I'm an old guy who remembers the hype around Soviet/Russian fighters going back to the MiG-21. While they all had positive characteristics, all were terribly overhyped and there is no reason to think today is any different. When the clouds of propaganda drift away and combat begins, Russian planes serve mostly as ejection seat testing platforms. Russia gets by mostly on bluff and bluster. She has a Potemkin Village military. She builds pretty planes that impress at air shows (except when they are crashing), but we don't see them achieving air superiority and keeping it against air forces of similar size equipped with American fighters. Let's not forget, that is the object of the exercise - gain and keep air superiority so one's bomber can come in and strike enemy targets on the surface. Even now, Russia is struggling to come up with a fighter that can beat the 1970s-technology F-15. Because of Russia's small economy and the expense of these weapons systems, she just isn't able to keep a lot of them in the air or give a large number of pilots adequate training. One thing that cracks me up about Russian hype videos - they typically have someone with a British accent narrate the things, rather than a Russian. One gets the impression they think a Russian accent is undesirable.

It has become evident That not only is Russian air power over hyped, it’s whole military machine is. The only thing it has is the red button.

Very interesting topic, and well researched as always. Another very good guest👍🏻 You have a fan in Canada 🇨🇦

Respect your enemy, treat him like an equal and you will never be surprised. Expect the best, Expect talented individuals.

Formidable against static targets such as maternity hospitals and bomb shelters that have "children" marked on the road next to them. Granted, also static radar installations were blown up in the beginning. Snarky comment, I know, but the analysis was good and I'm very grateful for the effort that Chris has put to bring us this content. It's good to know your enemy. If you film in Ilmailumuseo again, the beer is on me 🥶

this video seems to hold up today

That guys background image of a cockpit, I just can't take him seriously.

Great interview! You just showed a Mig-25 Foxbat not a Mig-31 Foxhound at 19:36... Hey hey, we are all avgeeks, here. Geek being the key word!

Very well done, covering a wide range of subjects in good detail… BUT, in any analysis of current Russian air power’s strength or weakness, there was one fundamental omission that should have been addressed: the numbers of aircraft in the Russian inventory. If you look at Russian armored vehicles as an analog, there are a number of “first line” tanks & A.P.C.s/I.F.V.s, but there are many, many more Soviet-era remnants and vehicles in various levels of storage, with very varied levels of operability and capacity- some are barely functional, some are far from being equipped to any “modern” standard… However, on paper, the numbers are impressive, and perhaps being able to field large enough numbers of obsolete A.F.V.s (T-62s, T-72s & others, for example) brings a quantitative advantage that would be hard to overcome (if, for example, a few modern & well equipped tanks were backed up by dozens of obsolete, or lesser-equipped ones, you would have the benefit of numbers both in sheer volume of fire and the ability to sustain losses). HOWEVER, when it comes to aircraft, the wheat must be separated from the chaff: what are the numbers of the newest and most capable aircraft in the Russian inventory? My poor attempts to look into this showed that there are relatively few of each type of what would be considered “first line”, top-shelf aircraft (as you mentioned the TU-160, it is my understanding that there is less than a dozen of the new, more capable variant, either new airframes or comprehensively re-built and re-equipped legacy aircraft, or your mention of the Su-57’s inadequate planned procurement of +/- 75 aircraft). While there may be many more aircraft “on the books”, similar to their armored vehicles, how many are actually modern, upgraded & realistically operable? To be hyperbolic, while an Il-2 Sturmovik may still be capable of launching an attack and dropping bombs, I don’t think anyone would argue it would have a place in modern combat… As with the T-14 Armata, however it might perform, unless it is produced in large enough numbers to represent a viable, useable asset, it is somewhat irrelevant. The same applies to a subject you touched upon- the number of qualified aircrew, who have adequate time in their respective aircraft type to be fully effective- if they can’t get the hours needed in the cockpit, no matter how many planes are produced, it is immaterial… Could you please consider doing a “part two” on this subject, going into the available numbers of the different aircraft, and their sub-types, as I think we can agree, the raw numbers of aircraft can be misleading, and the realistic number of first-line, deployable & capable Russian combat aircraft may come as something of a surprise, being much smaller than many assume… Thank you!

I'm just here for the recent comments

This was fantastic! Can you do a video on the JASDF?

The Russian Air Force is of course capable but not the sky darkening force of aircraft it once was. This is the reason the Russians focus so heavily on area denial systems like the S400 SAM system

Outstanding and very informative discussion in light of the recent (Feb.2022) Russian invasion of Ukraine. It explains a lot about the limitations - - - correction vast limitations, of Russian AirPower.

This has aged well

Great work once again! Thank you also to Justin Bronk for his detailed analysis on the wider range of use and capabilities of the new russian planes in a true war scenario. I would also appreciate it, if there could be a similiar video about the chinese air force.

This was excellent. A very well learned assessment of the less glamorous factors that contribute to a fighting groups efficacy, and a very well informed one. I'll like and subscribe for that, and also to see more of Bronk's input where I can. And honestly...I also wanna see where his hair stops when he's not in front of a green screen.

Seeing recent events, yes, they’re absolutely overhyped.

Really enjoyed that collaborative piece. You and Justin Bronk are a good mix together. I'd like to see more of these. Thx

They win the award for the meanest/coolest looking fighters.

This was a great video, I could totally sit and listen to a several hour long deep dive into the Russian air defence system

im gonna say it...This aged well like a fine wine.

Glad to see others revisiting this since the events of late.

This is one of the most interesting analysis on Russian airforce I ever seen. Thanks

I've been impressed with what Russian can do with a faltering economy

As we’ve since learned, either Russia’s IAD is either technically much less capable than we thought or more likely they’re just much less integrated than we thought and the crews are extremely poorly trained and therefore the IAD isn’t nearly as threatening as we thought.

You were right, they air power is wildly over hyped.

I'm not sure I'd call it overhyped, but the priorities of non-NATO air forces tend to be rather different, leading to direct comparisons being rather difficult.

Good to see you man, those flood footages from Germany looks devastating. Hope you and your loved ones are alright and well. Cheers.

Being an aviation enthusiast I found Justin’s talk one of the best I’ve actually heard Excellent

Based on what I'm hearing Russian air power doesn't stand a chance against hi tech US airpower and experience. I think it's more than likely the vaunted Chinese air power is similarly lagging in targeting systems and lack experience in air to air combat while we Americans are seasoned, rocking the very best in tech capabilities for our airpower

He's pulling some serious G's in that Cocpit^^

"Russians do not have experience as western air forces!" I wonder what kind of experience western airforces have???

There seems to be a whole new relevance to this content, thanks for this.

This take aged like fine wine.

The question I have is a question about budget and airframes. None of this is exactly apples to apples, but drives some thinking. 1 - The British have a budget of about $59B annually and as far as I can tell will end up with about 200 combat airframes. 2 - The Germans have a budget of about $51B annually and as far as I can tell will end up with about 200 combat airframes 3 - The Russians have a budget of about $61B annually and as far as I can tell will end up with about 2100 combat airframes (excluding the large bombers). We can not compare numbers directly, but how does Russia support 10x the number of airframes on about the same budget as Britain and Germany? I can make the same comparison with tanks (even excluding the tanks in reserve). The Russian navy outnumbers the two nations fleets combined. Plus the Russians have to fund their large nuclear forces. So even given the limitations that are given in the video, the numbers would say to me that there is a lot of rust on Russian equipment that is listed active. This may be due to overlap in systems that are being retired, but still. Are the budget numbers wrong or misleading?

Great video. I am in Australia, for those of us in the Asia Pacific, any chance you could do a similar video analysing Chinese air power?

Watching this in March 2022... a very truthful and accurate analysis it turns out! Well done!

Their problem in a real combat situation is going to be keeping enough of anything, especially their new stealth fighters, in the air. It's not just the pilots that need training and experience. You need ground crews with the specialized skills, materials and parts to keep these in the air. They will have a handful of next gen resources available at best and will probably be very reluctant to commit those for fear of losses. The SU-27 variants are a dangerous adversary when properly maintained, when well coordinated and directed, when fielded in consistently competitive numbers and when piloted by experienced aircrew. They can't do any of that. They look good on paper and are pretty menacing sitting on the runway, but are not living up to the hype under battlefield conditions. They just don't have the economic base to field a force that can go toe to toe with NATO under real conditions.

Interesting comment at about 11:35, stating that the weakness of the VKS is relatively moot due to there being so many tanks and other ground forces which can generate fires. Not really working out that way in Ukraine these days.

With the benefit of hindsight, in view of the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, we can answer the title of this video with: YES.

Well this one aged pretty well

Great episode! Expect more Justin Bronk in the future! 👏

I have no problems with the US spending millions experimenting on advance fighter aircraft. There is no such thing as a failed experiment. All experiments are valuable regardless of the outcome. An experiment provides insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. Naturally, the more you experiment the more you learn. The US has chosen to use it's financial resources to experiment and develope the best fighter aircraft in the world. Why not since lives depend on it? In life you either lead, follow or get out of the way. When it comes to fighter jets, the US has chosen to invest and lead, while Russia remains somewhat frugal and content to follow.

su 57 is in service and the Checkmate is a static prototype. This is all while the Tempest and FCAS people cant decide on what their plywood model will look like.

Thanks guys most imformative straight to the point no bull clip ive seen in a long time ,fair play cheers i could listen to him all day great info makes a pleasant change thanks again

It's funny scrolling back through the comments when this video was first released!!!

It's important to be realistic. I wouldn't describe the Russian military as being particularly effective offensively, but if they had to defend themselves someone is probably going to get more of a bloody nose than they thought. They've done a pretty good job of maintaining a large military on a very shoestring budget.

Funny you should mention that, because it definitely seems overhyped now.

One of the things never mentioned is Command and Control. The Russian Command, clear back to the old Soviet days, is more concerned with Controlling its own troops than it was with the opposition. Why is the Russian Air Force so useless? Because the Russian generals are afraid that if they give the pilots the slightest amount of autonomy they will all fly to Germany and ask for asylum. After all, it wouldn't be the first time . . .

Excellent - especially the pro's and con's of different fighting solutions for the VKS v West aircraft.

Great discussion. More of this please. Something on Chinese airpower would be great. I think we're more likely to see a hot war with China before one with Russia. Cheers

11:01 Well, this analysis aged like milk. It doesn't matter how many tanks Russia has if their conscript ground forces aren't willing to fight and/or the tanks run out of fuel before they get to the fight. Doubly so if those tanks can be taken out very easily with modern man-portable ATGMs. The VKS's inability to perform precision battlefield interdiction and CAS missions is taking Russia's very large problem and making it worse.