The war in Ukraine has revealed many insights about modern, high‑end combat, but perhaps the most consequential is the indispensable value of air superiority. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has made meaningful territorial gains over more than four years of war, despite extraordinarily high casualties.
The reason is simple: neither side has been able to effectively control the air over the battlefield, a necessary means to obtain strategic advantage.
Both possess advanced surface‑to‑air missile (SAM) systems, yet neither has the advanced aircraft and missiles needed to evade and defeat them. As we have seen during the war in Iran, Israeli and U.S. stealth aircraft effectively dismantled similar integrated air defense systems to secure air superiority and then exploit that advantage to strike Iranian targets freely.
Lacking stealth, Russia and Ukraine routinely lose older-generation fighters—and in Russia’s case, bombers— anytime they fly near the front lines, creating a de facto no‑fly zone.
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