putin has been slowing giving himself power, russia is getting shady again, esp after the whole georgia war.
and the russian air force is nothing to worry about, saw this a couple weeks ago
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5152J020090206
You better include our own little air force into that. What was wearing thin previous to Gulf War part Duex is now in real shambles. It's no wonder they're trying to transition many pilots into Predators.
Remember, all F15's grounded a year (2?) or so ago, (after that accident where one came apart in-flight, in Missouri I believe, though could be wrong) put a lot of stress on an already aging -16 fleet. Even with all our maintenance, I'd be really surprised if we weren't too far behind the Russian's problems. Remember also, they put much less stress on their existing airframes in the 90's, when they couldn't afford to fly them and just maintained 'em in readiness. Meanwhile, we flew the crap outta our birds, in three warzones (Gulf 1, 2, and Afghan) and one conflict (Serbia). Our fleet of fighters have real issues.
The Viper is a great plane, but its' legs make it suspect. In-Flight gas just makes another tempting target for a real foe to take out, which is why you want something with legs, if possible. As Eagl said, we didn't even contract out for less than half the prior build on the F-22. I don't know how we're going to control the airspace over any near term conflict, honestly, if we're contested seriously. With smaller nations beginning to get generation 4.5 jets (J-10, J-11, Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen, SU-30 MK)...... it really could get messy.