Fair point re defensive v. defensive aerial warfare. During an invasion of Western Europe, the Soviet air force, as the attacking force, would face some daunting challenges. On the other hand, aside from long-range interdiction strikes, really the SAF would only have to defend the forward edge of battle in order to prevent NATO aircraft from stopping the advance of Red Army armor.
Relating this back to T2K (v1.0, at least) though, the Soviets are initially on the defensive. Their AF would have been operating much as the Iraqi MiG-25 did in the article.
Regarding the Red [surface] Fleet, one must consider it's intended role in a conventional war with NATO. Soviet naval doctrine was different than that of the West. The Soviets liked to send their fleet elements on long-range cruises during peacetime as a way of showing off but, during a war, the surface fleets were to be kept close to home, to defend the Motherland. They would have had the advantages of the defender- air cover from land-based aircraft, interior lines of supply, etc. Granted, the Japanese enjoyed those advantages during WWII and it still didn't turn out so well for them.
A Soviet surface fleet sortie into the Atlantic would likely have been very costly, and the Soviets knew that. They had the capability to try, but their war plans did not envision their surface elements straying far from territorial waters.
Submarines, on the other hand- many would sortie prior to the commencement of hostilities. They would already be roaming the open seas- that was the plan, at least. I've said it before, but one thing I think many western analysts have grossly overestimated, is NATO's ability to quickly locate and eliminate these submarine commerce hunters. There's reams of anecdotal evidence about U.S. carrier groups being stalked and killed by "obsolete" submarines during exercises. NATO subs have collided with NATO ships, Soviet subs and ships, and even land. I think pundits focus too much on the theory of ASW tech/doctrine and forget about the messiness of reality.
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