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[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think the main difference is that 'air superiority' is foundational to USA's war doctrine, because the US army is primarily an offensive force, meant to suppress rebellions across the empire. For Russia, 'air defense' is foundational, because their army exists primarily to defend the borders of Russia. When they do attempt US-style interventions, it generally doesn't go all that well.

[–]RandomCollection[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Part of it is just military doctrine. The US is clearly not adapted to fighting a peer opponent and has oriented itself to fighting much poorer opponents who have a limited means of fighting back.

The concept of air superiority does exist in Russia as well - it merely means that one military has dominance in the skies. Russia currently has air superiority over most of the battlefield in Ukraine right now.

The US tends to rely more heavily on aircraft, as opposed to the Russians which have a really good anti-aircraft or air defense system.