Suspect there’s a NASAMS and Patriot battery in Kyiv.
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The UK has put out a tender to supply Ukraine with 300km range air launched missiles, specs that exactly match the Storm Shadow.
These were used on the Tornado (aircraft retired), are used on the Typhoon (in service) but won’t be carried by the F-35. I can see the stocks being offloaded as the UK moves to other systems.
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I would have thought it was a certainty.
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End of list.
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Nothing against sappers or O5s with fantasies involving large numbers of rotary devices but my own tastes are less mechanical and more
NSFW
I call it a fund raising photo from Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on behalf of United 24 campaign to equip Army of Drones. The 44 “pickups”, civilian utility vehicles or technicals have plain white livery with English language “Army of Drones” on the bonnett.
Only 12 people in the photo, 18-20 larger drones with red tops, in front of 20-22 squares containing drones that are hard to identify plus a LOT of what I assume are One Way Attack expendable loitering munitions in front of them.
Translation of the Ukrainian text in Fedorov's Telegram channel
8 new UAV strike companies are ready for battle - they have been given pickups, attack copters and FPV drones.
UAVs for the Army purchased drones within the framework of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s UNITED24 platform and at the expense of the state budget.
It is important that all drones are Ukrainian-made. We continue to remove blockers for the development of Ukrainian companies. There will be many more changes. So that Ukraine produces thousands of drones every month, which the Defense Forces need right now.
The creation of shock-mouths is an unprecedented and timely step. I am grateful to the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense and the State Intelligence Service for the innovative approach to decision-making. The three strike companies that we launched a few months ago are already having successful results at the front.
The top priority is to provide other divisions with technologies. This will bring victory closer and save the lives of our soldiers.
67.6KviewsMay 9 at 00:00
I’ll try to track down the images later and would appreciate any help identifying details.
I am particularly interested in pairs of white small discs on top of what I guess might be pairs of radio antennas on each red topped ISTAR drone as I am particularly focussed on the data links and navigation.
Am unfamiliar with antennas. Could those be something that adapts a pair of MIMO antennas to multiple frequency bands despite single length radiator? @megahertz ?
If the vehicles correspond to 1 “strike company” that might imply 2 vehicles per team, with only 1 of them having an ISTAR drone for surveillance. Could be a “Launch and Recovery team” of just 1 driver but I would assume 2 soldiers per vehicle for a “Company” of 88.
I’m not assuming they carry more than the minimum actual explosives on each vehicle.
I don’t see antennas on the vehicles but they also don’t have number plates so may not have been finished yet. Could either mean dismounted antennas or separate vehicles with the radios eg Humvees or IFVs.
But I do think the picture confirms my view that high drone density for a maneuver force breaching prepared fortifications could be achieved from several km away using untracked vehicles on nearby roads. Pickups make more sense than fuel guzzling Humvees.
L8R gone
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Putin pictured with leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Krykzstan.
And Borat
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The irony.
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Some things never change
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I thought Wagner were a private army, mercenary for hire. How can they be charged for state treason?
Edit. War crimes by all accounts, yes, kill the lot of them.
Spoken like a true army operational planner
I’ll add to the requirememts.
The biggest threat to the small, mini and micro uav is EW; therefore a array of EW DF uav should also be in the air to pinpoint source of jamming and have arty or other uav take it out; thus enabling the rest of istar and attack uav to work freely.
(Edited to correct thick finger issues)
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Thoughts on the use of Switchblade 300s to date? I’ve seen some frustration from US personnel that these should have been used on EW systems instead of tanks. Reading between the lines, it seems like the Switchblade would be more EW resilient and should be saved for that role, allowing cheaper lower end drones to do the bulk work.
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An interesting development… if true.
I am going to say that there is a high likelihood that this rant is based in the truth. Implications? More discord sown in the ranks. Could UA take advantage of such a lapse? You bet they could and are poised to do something just like that. A more serious breach in the frontline could and should be exploited, but only when UA have sufficient forces to sustain such a breach in the front line. Or perhaps l am just reaching a bit too far.
I would be nervous with any report of weakness along the front-line, specially coming from the russians
I would lead with plenty of recce and istar
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IIRC, they are pretty ineffective against tanks and IFV. More for pers and HVT
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