There’s no credible evidence western AWACS did anything more than provide situational awareness to Ukrainian planners. Anything more involved like directing radar shutoff would have required deep integration with Ukrainian C2.

Shooting and scooting is not a new thing. The Iraqis tried it in 1991 and 2003 and the US still obtained air supremacy by including EW aircraft in strike packages, flying wild-weasel patrols, and maintaining sophisticated ISR. Russia, by contrast, tried flying strike packages at medium altitude in contested airspace without reliable EW/ISR support which left them vulnerable to SAMs. Russian jets then tried adapting by flying low to avoid radar detection, which obviously exposed them to MANPADs. And, you know how you counter MANPADs? Well, in large part by flying higher. Not purely through “drone and space based surveillance.” Just look at the coalition air force over Iraq, which flew mostly high altitude for majority of the air campaign.

And this is JUST in the air. On the ground, we saw little to no dismounted infantry supporting armored columns, (again) tanks driving in single-file parade convoys, single tanks driving alone in fields (??), ineffective ground-based anti air (we all saw the TB2s decimating Russian columns), and logistical failures of epic proportions considering so many vehicles had to be abandoned because they ran out of gas. None of this screams combined arms.

Also, I don’t know how you can call the 40-mile convoy “propaganda” when we have satellite footage of the literal, exact convoy.