Quantity has a quality all its own.
I have lost track of how many times I’ve read posts on this forum quoting Stalin’s famous line. You know the ones. The type of post that asks why the RAF doesn’t buy a few thousand Hunters instead of those horrible new fangled F35 things.
Following the first week or two of the current unpleasantness in Ukraine can we now please put that notion to bed for a while?
As an example, Russia has reportedly (but probably actually) lost modern, capable fighters to MANPADs. Main battle tanks are being dispatched by the dozen. Can you imagine what would happen if you pitched up with Hunters? You’d run out of pilots before the other side ran out of MANPADs or Javelins.
Would any nation, let alone a risk-averse Western nation, countenance the idea of swarms of yesteryears jet aircraft with plucky pilots attempting to overwhelm the defences of an unsuspecting foe?
I’ve batted these notions away for years now (and yes I can see the delicious irony of a Stalin quote being the bat with which to beat Putin). Can we now maybe just admit that modern, capable kit is much better suited to modern warfare?
Of course, if you wish to suggest the idea of swarms of affordable armed drones then there is a conversation to be had.
BV