Russian Mobile SAM Sites In On Ukraine Invasion Deserve Mention!

[Rigby5]

Oh, and to touch on this as well.

Yes, a lot of RADAR can "pick up" stealth aircraft. However, what they generally can not do is lock on with enough of a signal to get a firing solution. In order to do so they generally have to go to maximum power and blast the region with enough EM to cook hotdogs half a mile away.

Which has its own risk, as that greatly extends the range they themselves are detected and located. This is largely the very idea of SEAD-Wild Weasel missions. Get something out in front at the edge of the detection envelope of the RADAR, then "tickle" it, trying to get them to expend missiles, as well as increase RADAR power. At the same time from another angle other aircraft sneak up with HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) and then target the RADAR system itself.

And yes, there are many missiles that they can use, depending on the mission. The US PATRIOT system is the same way, we load them up with missiles to respond to the expected threats in the area. For the US, that is pretty much exclusively the PATRIOT system. And they operate with a decent selection of missiles.

The GEM+ is kind of a "one size fits all", as it can handle both aircraft and TBM threats. GEM-C is designed primarily to target "Air Breathing Threats" (jets and cruise missiles), while the GEM-T is designed primarily to target TBM threats (Terminal Ballistic Missile). Then finally there is the PAC-3, a kinetic kill missile that can work against aircraft or ballistic missiles.

This is nothing new, as the original GEM (which was an enhanced version of the original missile) was already entering service in 1990. In fact, we got to fire off a lot of GEM missiles when I was at Fort Bliss, as they were already reaching the end of their shelf life by 2007 so the decision was made to expend them in training rather than just destroy them.

But no, neither Russia or the US uses "different types of missiles to target different types of planes". They use different missiles to target different kinds of threats. And all airplanes and cruise missiles are targeted with the same missile. All you need is a missile good against ABT, and another good against TBM.

We lost stealth planes even trying to attack Kosovo, F-117A
Radar is not the only way to lock on, since there is also heat, visual, and sound.
Remember Russia has satellites so planes can be silhouetted.

 

[Rigby5]

And just so we do not forget, lets go back over the acts of war committed by Zelensky.
He allowed fascists to take over the Azov Battalion and murder 14k ethnic Russian civilians since 2014.
Kyiv stole over $20 billion in oil from Russian pipelines.
The 1992 treaties the Ukraine signed specifically prohibit the Ukraine trying to join NATO.
The Ukraine putting NATO weapons on Russia's border is an act of war.