Those Good Ol' Systems.

Some people are in distress over yet another, how to put it politely, less than satisfactory performance by Israeli weapon systems. 

MOSCOW (AP) — Syria's air defense forces shot down seven out of eight missiles launched by Israeli warplanes during a raid that targeted the Syrian province of Aleppo, the Russian military said Tuesday. Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, the head of the Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that four Israeli F-16 fighter jets targeted facilities southeast of Aleppo in Monday's strike. Kulit said seven of eight missiles launched by the Israeli fighter jets were downed by Syrian air defense units that used Russia-supplied air defense systems Pantsyr-S and Buk-M2. One missile damaged the building of a scientific research center in Safira, he said. A Syrian military official previously said in remarks carried by the state news agency SANA that Israel carried out an aerial attack in the Aleppo province late Monday. He said that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the attack that occurred just before midnight.

By now it became a routine, really. Israel gets its combat aircraft into the international air space and launches missiles at allegedly Iranian assets in Syria. Syrians, most likely, get early warning from Russians and then shoot down most of the missiles by S1s and Buks. Give Syrians Air Defense a due credit--they are getting really good at it. Obviously such numbers are very disturbing for the Israeli and the United States Air Forces which get a bit of a taste of what even fairly straight-forward and not newest, to say the least, Air Defense can do. Now, even when linearly extrapolated on Russian Air Defense, one gets a very good feel about "leakage" rates and survivability of attacking aircraft in case of real shooting war. A very low probability of such a survival. 

While the whole world discusses new Russian fighter whose first flight is scheduled in 2023 (in Russian), and, as it turned out, what is being shown to public IS NOT a static mock up but an actual aircraft which will take to the skies in 2023. I can hear cries from pain (you know, butt-hurt) from many quarters and I can hear Almaz-Antey laughing all the way to the bank. Now, about this 7.5 ton payload--rumor has it that this number is ONLY for the internal bays. If true (will know soon)--it is an amazing aircraft. Kyle Mizokami, being an ignorant journo that he is, tries, however, to put a good face on:

Could Checkmate indeed, uh, checkmate the F-35? It’s way too early to tell. But if UAC can keep costs down and stick to its development schedule, it could hurt the F-35 in the foreign sales market. The F-35 is the equivalent of a Mercedes Benz, but there are plenty of countries that would be perfectly happy to have a Hyundai.

For Myzokami:

The US Air Force Quietly Admits the F-35 Is a Failure

To call this barely flying POS a "high end" and compare it to Mercedes is an insult to good engineering and combat experience. On the other hand, Mercedes, together with most German cars, consistently takes the lead as one of the least reliable and monstrously expensive vehicles to fix. Alleged Mercedes' advantages over "competitors" (Toyota laughs at such statements), it's dick enlargement factor and "luxury" to feed the ego of wealthy has zero real value, and since Mizokami mentioned Hyundai I saw a new Sonata two days ago on the parking lot of our local Safeway--it is a gorgeous car for a fraction of price and has it all. At least Mercedes, when it drives, can drive fast, "high end" F-35 cannot even fucking fly supersonic:

The F-35 Has a Problem With Going Supersonic, But the DoD Does Not Want to Fix it

Let alone have super-maneuverability and super-cruise, which new Sukhoi "Checkmate" has. But sure...  

To understand the level of butt-hurt, stupidity and delusion of these people, enough to listen to America's foremost "patriot" and "expert" John Bolton, who with a straight face delivered this few days ago. 

Former national security adviser John Bolton insisted on Friday that the United States had not lost the war in Afghanistan while criticizing President Joe Biden’s order for a full military withdrawal from the country. Bolton — who served as a high-ranking State Department official under former President George W. Bush at the time of the initial U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 — maintained that America’s armed forces did not lose the two-decade conflict, but had simply “walked away from it.” “We weren’t defeated,” Bolton told CNN in an interview. “You have to be defeated to lose a war. We’ve given up because we’ve lost patience. That’s a sad commentary about the current administration, but it’s not a defeat for the United States.”

Yes, of course, if F-35 is a "high end" and a Mercedes of the combat aircraft, then who can forget a brilliant "victory" in Vietnam and surely "not being defeated" in Afghanistan.The level of a butt-hurt is off the scale.