Is the age of American air superiority coming to an end?
The growing effectiveness of air-defence systems could blunt the West’s most powerful weapons
ON AUGUST 26TH the skies over Ukraine filled with the roar of 230 missiles and Shahed explosive-laden drones. It was Russia’s biggest such attack and it ought to have been devastating, since the largest missiles each carried as much as 700kg of explosives. Yet it soon became clear that Russia had failed. Ukraine claimed it shot down 201, or 87%, of the missiles, a stark example of how little effect air power has had in Europe’s biggest war in more than eight decades.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Is Western air supremacy ending?”
From the December 21st 2024 edition
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