From a substack on the Venezuelan operation - simply incredible
An astonishing and detailed account of this simply remarkable operation.
"The implications for Russian defense exports are catastrophic. Every S-300 and S-400 customer, including China, India, Turkey, Iran, Algeria, and Egypt, now confronts empirical evidence that Russian systems cannot defeat American fifth-generation capabilities in operational conditions. Marketing claims about theoretical performance against stealth aircraft have been tested in combat.
They failed.
One defense analyst summarized the situation with brutal clarity: “We now own the guidance chips, the source code for how Russia tracks targets, and the specific waveforms their jets use to talk to their missiles. For the next twenty years, every Russian ally using the S-300 is fighting naked.” The statement may be hyperbolic, but the underlying assessment is sound.
American forces have demonstrated comprehensive understanding of how Russian air defense systems detect, track, and engage targets. They have demonstrated comprehensive capability to defeat each layer of that detection and engagement chain. And they have demonstrated willingness to use these capabilities against a nation ostensibly under Russian protection."
For Russia, this represents not just a tactical embarrassment but a strategic crisis. Air defense systems are Russia’s primary export for deterring American intervention; they are the product Moscow offers to regimes seeking protection against the threat demonstrated in Venezuela. If those systems cannot provide the protection they promise, Russia’s value as a security partner diminishes dramatically.
Link: Venezuela
Replies to: From a substack on the Venezuelan operation - simply incredible
If the article is true, I'm not sure the price to extract Maduro alone was worth it.
At some point, a nation must use its capabilities. The question is only when. For example, should Clinton have used our stealth fighters over the former Yugoslavia, resulting in the loss of one, which was dissected and used for research by Russia & China? In this case, the question is, was it necessary now to use our tech to expose modern Russian systems? Maybe. Maybe not for just Maduro. Maybe to delay an invasion of Taiwan, or other more worthy goal. Who knows?????
The loss of the F-117 over Yugoslavia raises an interesting issue. The weapons systems which shot it down were very antiquated...more so than the systems used by Venezuela. How could it detect the F-117, but the modern Russian systems not detect all the US aircraft loitering over Caracas? The article may be exaggerating. Granted, the F-117 was retired in 2008, so perhaps its systems were antiquated as well.
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