The paper aims to address the Russian way of warfare, focusing on its approach to the employment of mass in air warfare. In this regard, attention is paid to Russia’s employment of mass in terms of the structure of its air force, its capabilities and its employment of air power in mass attacks during Russian wars.
The modern concept of mass is explained by referencing the existing academic and military debates on the subject, including some recent works by Heather Venable,1David Deptula and Heather Penney,2 and Viktoriya Fedorchak.3 In this regard, the focus is on the shift from balancing numerical superiority and cutting-edge technologies to establishing a critical mass – meaning sufficient numbers to achieve the posed objectives. The recent use of air power by Russia in Ukraine is assessed in terms of its strengths and limitations, and the paper addresses the effectiveness of the Ukrainian countermeasures in degrading the Russian numerical superiority. The discussion section provides key takeaways for strengthening national defences against numerically superior opponents. Unlike previous works on the subject, attention is also paid to the historical traces of the Russian way of employing air power. Hence, the features of the Russian way of warfare are traced in the post-Cold War development and employment of air power and the conceptualisation of air power.