YES: Ukraine Needs Ground-Based Air Defenses Way More Than MiGs. “When it comes to fighters over SAMs, the U.S. government appears to have come to a similar conclusion. Speaking yesterday, John Kirby, the U.S. military’s top spokesperson, said that instead of the MiG-29s, the Ukrainian forces would benefit more from additional deliveries of ground-based air defense systems. While the Fulcrum became a signature weapon for the Ukrainian side early on in the conflict, and a rallying point for the country’s population, Kirby is right that transferring more of these jets would not necessarily have made the most sense from a military or a risk of escalation perspective. After all, while the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has made big claims about the aerial kills achieved by its fighters, the country’s ground-based air defense systems have certainly played a far bigger role in depriving Russia of air superiority — a surprise for many analysts, who had expected Russian aerial dominance to quickly show through. They have also limited Russia’s ability to supply close air support to its own troops, giving Ukraine an additional advantage.”