Why is the Syrian Air Force performing so poorly? On October 29th the Syrian Air Force hit a record high for daily air raids; 60 bombing sorties. But with a force of 400 combat aircraft, and about as many pilots, surely the air force could have launched more raids on one day. Over the last two months, the air force has been averaging about 20 air attacks a day. With number of aircraft and pilots available, the air force should have been able to “surge” to carry out several hundred attacks in one day and nearly a hundred on a sustained basis.
The basic problem is that Assad can only count on about a hundred pilots loyal enough to bomb civilians. And the planes are not maintained well. They are mostly old, after all.
I'm more than a little surprised that Russia hasn't stepped in to help with maintenance and that Iran and Russia haven't stepped in with money to hire private pilot contractors to fly missions. Too few ground forces and too few pilots are no way to win a war.
