Russian special military operation in Ukraine #16

Cheaper terminally guided artillery shells, cheap precision guided kits for shells of different caliber, new electronic fuzes that can themselves provide some guidance are all being progressively developed and deployed worldwide. Whoever can make them in bulk will have an advantage.

Russia too is working in these areas. Russian forum members, GarryB will have more insights.

The Soviets developed laser guided artillery shells for essentially every calibre they had in tube artillery, and those are still effective today.

Modern laser designators have improved quite a bit with the laser designator on the MiG-35 supposed to be able to target ground objects at up to 30km away and air targets at 20km away.

New EO sensors are getting smaller and cheaper too with the Sokol-1 125mm gun tube fired guided round being able to find targets on its own as well as laser marked targets that do not have to be continually marked.

ie just like a laser pointer in a lecture a lecturer can use a laser to highlight something to get the students attention but does not need to continue to illuminate the target for the students to follow the description about it.

So for instance a moving train... as the round heads towards the train a laser could be used to illuminate a carriage for a split second... the optical system in the shell sees the train and the moving carriage and now will follow that moving carriage to impact without need for continuous target marking.

In the same sense the Kh-29T has had the ability to hit targets it can't identify, so a heavily camouflaged tank in a field of other bushes... the position of the brush hiding the tank can be determined in relation to the distinct corners of the field so while the aim point appears to be not on a target but on some scrub the missile will home in on that shrub even if it starts to move.

It does not identify the scrub as a tank or object, but as an image blob.

Their new LMUR missile uses a sophisticated IIR sensor and two way data link to find its own targets with lock on after launch.

The new 9M100 point defence missile is also rumoured to use IIR though it may use ARH now to avoid mist and fog effecting performance at sea as a CIWS system.

Either way the missile will have a high resolution radar sensor or IIR optical sensor and an internal library of 3D objects that it can use to identify targets it finds for itself and determine whether it is worth attacking.

Russia has satellites, drones, long-range smart missiles. It is unacceptable that the Ukrainian cockroaches continue to operate.

All of which HATO had over Kosovo in addition to a coalition of willing countries to supply fighter aircraft to hunt Serb aircraft over a much smaller area and from the first day to the last you could not say HATO air power was safe at any time and they didn't have a fraction of the mobile air defence systems or the number of airfields and motor ways the Ukraine has to hide its stuff... and they had far fewer aircraft to hide as well.

And the Argentine aviators were far superior in training to the Ukrainians. They were top-level professionals, recognized by the English.

I would agree, but would add that the air defence capacity of the British forces was not that impressive even at the time and so a brave skilled pilot prepared to fly very low could sneak in and make an attack and get out of there before anyone could be sent up to get them... the problem of course is that with modern look down shoot down radar and modern AAMs the enemy don't need to get very close to shoot him down.... as long as you were outside sidewinder range you were pretty safe most of the time in air to air combat and British fighters simply were not fast enough to run down Argentine aircraft in combat so when they chose to leave there was not much the Brits could do about it.

However, let me remind you: Ukrainian aviation flies Soviet planes. And by doing so, they fully confirmed all Soviet concepts: even when they completely lost control of the sky, when their airfields are subjected to missile strikes, and their logistics chains are destroyed, Soviet combat aviation still remains combat-ready.

Exactly.... and also while a much more powerful force when linked together by an IADS, their air defence units are also dangerous when they are used on their own... as proven during the US led cruise missile attack on Syria where 71 missiles were shot down by systems not linked up and cooperating like Russian systems do.

Of course no AD is perfect and there is a lot of space to cover so some sneak attacks are possible but looking at the Saudi air defence and the Syrian air defence it is pretty clear who has the better system in that regard.

They have caught the devil who executed and tortured POW

This guy is fucked, in the literal sense of the word

It would have been better to suicide , honestly

They will want to put him on trial for his crimes and be held accountable... don't kill him... make sure he has a long life...

no, they r losing $Ms while tons of grain can't be exported;

Losing money is no proof they are not blocking the ports themselves... they block gas supplies and lose millions in gas transit fees too...

Russia has used oil as a weapon against Ukraine. It launched missile strikes against Ukraine’s oil infrastructure in late March, destroying multiple fuel depots countrywide.

When you are in an actual war with a country then destroying the resources they can use against you is a no brainer.

Russia could have cut gas or coal or oil supplies to the west or Uranium for nuclear power generation for the US if it was using energy as a weapon... which is now totally justified because the US and the west are supplying weapons to the Orcs, yet they continue to fulfil contracts...

The US wouldn't... and the EU wouldn't either.

Moreover, on April 2 and May 12, Russian forces attacked and destroyed the Kremenchuk oil refinery, which supplied over a third of the domestic fuel market

Perfectly legitimate military target in an open war.

Unlike western sanctions against Russia... unless they are at war...

Those strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure combined with Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports and were augmented by issues in domestic pricing regulations. Taken together, Russia’s oil warfare resulted in severe fuel shortages that, by the end of April, reached even the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, causing miles-long lines at gas stations. The authorities instituted rationing, giving priority for military and emergency vehicles. President Zelenskyy and the government have been working ever since to restructure the supply network

Anything they get up and running will also be destroyed no doubt...

Wher r all those famous Mi-24/28/35s, since they r not in the videos from Ukraine except when some were shot down? still in Syria? I guess they r not as manuevarable & thus more vulnarable to ground fire; also Ukraine has Mi-24s & there is a dnager of friendly fire.

The Russian military praised the Mi-24s and Mi-28s and Mi-35s for their abilities and usefulness in this combat mission... very low flying helicopters are difficult targets anyway, and these aircraft carry potent fire power and in the case of the Mi-28 decent optics and systems to detect and engage targets from extended ranges.

It´s easier and much cheaper to shot down the
few remaining airworthy aircraft.

When they are on the ground they are a burden... they need support and fuel and ammo and to be protected, but they are totally useless on the ground... they have no value on the ground.

Once airborne they do represent a threat, but if they get shot down as they approach their targets then they are target practise and you get the pilot too.

The U.S. and NATO Are Waging War With Russia in Ukraine… But Russia Is Assured of Victory – Russell Bentley

Nice article.... thanks for posting...

And on the domestic front, the Cannes Film Festival was gatecrashed by an attention whore who protests non-existing sexual violence in the war. Unless she's referring to the DNR allegations of the rape of a local woman by Ukrainian soldiers, although even that is as yet unverified

You misunderstand her message.... she is upset that Americans are sending 40 billion US dollars to Kiev who is just going to waste it on weapons...

Her message is not that Ukrainians are being raped, but that the Ukraine is raping the US... stop raping US is her message and I sort of agree... but as usual with messages in the western media you need to turn it around and assume the opposite is true because it is the Ukraine that is being murdered and raped by the west via Kiev.

Until now, I did not find any reliable sources about the use of this aircraft in Ukraine.

The Russians themselves mentioned it has been used in theatre, but also mentioned it remained out of range of enemy air defence systems, which suggests its sensors and stealth give it a decent advantage in such an environment...

First he should negotiate with his masters in Washington.

He is the front door mat... better to talk to the owner of the house or property than waste time wiping your feet on the mat.

It does make a lot of sense to use the conflict as a way to test weapons and I think it is pretty safe to assume the Su-57 is not an exception, specially now that the operational concepts and tactics are being laid to integrate it the VKS

For a westerner for which war is fun and a game and also part of the propaganda behind western superiority, then sending high tech stuff is risky if it fails it would b embarrassing and very costly if it is widely in service.

For instance if the F-35 went in there and got wasted easily then the 600 odd in service would need to immediately be replaced with something that actually has a chance of working which would be eye wateringly expensive so for the west not sending in the F-35 would make sense politically and economically even if militarily it might have an edge that gives them an advantage. (not).

But for Russia the Su-57 is their new premiere fighter and if it is no good in the Ukraine then where is it any good?

Any problems they should be trying to find and solve, if it does not do what they want finding it out now and solving the problem would be much cheaper than keeping it in reserve and making lots of them and then using them in real combat in 10 years time where the faults are revealed then.

Finding out what it can or cannot do is important in learning how to use it most effectively and working out what future upgrades and modifications might be wanted for the future.

Hole wrote:

He's doing a quality check on Russia's new acquisition - wouldn't want anything but the best for Russian tourists