A brief look at the air-power of Russia and Ukraine

As tensions rise further between Russia and Ukraine we shall take a look at the aircraft the two countries could use to fight against each other if the situation deteriorates.  Hopefully any confrontation would only be with words and a military confrontation would be merely hypothetical.

Russia

Emblem of the Air Force of the Russian Federation

The Russian Air Force is a considerable fighting force, numerous in number and type of aircraft. It's main combat aircraft are as follows:

• 298 Mi-24/Mi-35 Attack helicopters
• 280 Su-24 Strike aircraft
• 225 Su-27 Air superiority aircraft
• 254 Mig-29 Multirole fighters
• 195 Su-25 Strike aircraft
• 131 Mig-31 Interceptors
• 107 Tu-22M Strategic bombers
• 65 Mi-28 Attack helicopters
• 58 Tu-95 Strategic bombers
• 41 Ka-52 Attack Helicopters
• 38 Su- 34 Strike aircraft
• 34 Su-35S Multirole fighters
• 30 Su-30 Multirole fighters
• 12 Tu-160 Strategic bombers

In addition to the aircraft listed are the numerous transport, refuelling, reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft. Due to the close proximity of Ukraine to Russia air to air refuelling would be used only a small amount if it all.

As well as these aircraft the Russian Navy also has aircraft it could possibly deploy however most are on its aircraft carrier which is part of the North fleet, far away from Ukraine. The main combat aircraft of the Russian Navy are as follows:

• 22 Su-24 Strike aircraft
• 21 Su-33 Fighter aircraft

The Russian Navy also has various anti submarine helicopters and transport helicopters at its disposal.

Ukraine

Emblem of the Ukrainian Air Force 

The Ukrainian Air force is a much smaller force than the Russian equivalent, however fighting on home soil might be an advantage.

• 80 Mig-29 Fghter aircraft
• 48 Mi-24 Attack helicopters
• 36 Su-27 Fighter aircraft
• 36 Su-24 Bomber aircraft
• 36 Su-25 Ground attack aircraft

The Ukrainian Navy also operates various anti submarine, maritime patrol and transport aircraft.  It also has a small number of assault aircraft

• 16 Helix-B Assault transport helicopters

Other key points

If a full on confrontation did occur between the two countries it cannot be guaranteed that western powers would not interfere so the inclusion of numerous other aircraft would then be easily possible. It would be an interesting conflict with many of the same aircraft fighting against each other, as a result it might be difficult with blue on blue incidents possible. Both military forces still use a considerable amount of old Soviet Union military hardware which is becoming more and more obsolete, but both have plans to update their military over time. In a military conflict Ukraine would also have its navy and ground defences to help but by the same token Russia could easily move its Navy in as it seems to be doing at the moment.