With the end of the Cold War, the US Defense Department has become both the State Department and the Department of Offense. We negotiate at the point of a gun and have ignored the defense of the United States.
We’ve spent $1.5 Trillion dollars on the F35, an airplane that marginally works and probably never will.
Russia had an advantage that the US didn’t in the past decades. They didn’t have the money to develop and field a huge, modern fighter aircraft fleet. Yes, they have done research on some really good jets. They still can’t afford to field a lot of them.
So, they concentrated on defending Russia with some awesome air defense capabilities. Having a large fleet of aircraft like we do doesn’t really matter if they can all be neutralized. And, missiles are cheaper.
Perhaps it’s time to concentrate on defending our country. Read more here.