In the central blue

Here are two interesting articles on how well Russian air to air would fare against US aircraft. The first tries to estimate the effectiveness of Russian Beyond Visual Range missiles against the US capabilities and argues that Russian aircraft, with their large missile loadouts and huge missile airframes can compensate somewhat for US quality by firing multiple missile salvos, which in many-on-many situations can generate a one for one tradeoff against US aircraft.

The second article argues that the real margin of US superiority against enemy air to air is the F-22 because older types cannot impose themselves any longer against the newer Russian aircraft. The historical comparison would be between British and German battleships at the start of War 2. Although the British had many more capital ships than the Germans, in reality their ability to deal effectively with the Bismarck class depended on the numbers of KGV class vessels they had available.

I don’t know enough to evaluate the analysis, but it’s an interesting read at a time when the debate over the numbers and indeed the effectiveness of the F-22 are in the news.